Bonds of Love
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: Harry disappears from his residence at Number 4 Privet Drive with all his belongings. No one seems to know where he has gone. Time travel. Slash.
1. Prologue

**_Disclaimer:_**** Harry Potter is not mine by any stretch of the imagination. This is based on Bonds Of Love from The PlotBunny Farm by LucySaxonWrites (she changed her penname, I can't for the life the life of me remember what it is L) Aha! Her new penname is Somewhere's Sword**

**I was supposed to start this a while ago … I did start three times though.**

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It was nearly midnight. Leaves tumbles playfully along the pavement, passing identical immaculate houses of Privet Drive. Each house looked exactly the same as the last, the only difference was perhaps the plants growing in each garden.

A teenager of almost sixteen woke suddenly. His startling green eyes flew open. His hands scrambled on his tiny, rickety side table, searching for his glasses. Upon finding them, he put them on, staring at the ceiling panting slightly.

It was no longer a strange occurrence for him to be woken up in the middle of the night from a nightmare anymore. Ever since returning from the failed trip to the Ministry of Magic at the end of the last school year, nightmares had been abundant in his dreams. He could never escape from the sight of Sirius's shocked expression as he passed through the veil, the helpless feeling of being unable to save the one person who meant the most in the world to him. Nor could he forget Bellatrix's mocking taunts in the Atrium.

What had happened afterwards, however, was confusing to Harry. The feeling of Voldemort in his mind had not felt strange in the slightest. It had felt as if it were completely normal, as if it had happened many times before. His magic had not rejected the foreign intrusion either, hell it didn't even feel foreign. Obviously Harry was missing something, especially if Voldemort seemingly recognized his mind as well. He had felt Voldemort recoil in surprise shortly before he had left his mind.

With a sigh, he rolled out of bed, knowing he would get no more sleep that night, or morning, he thought wryly. He reached into his trunk, silently thankful that the Dursleys had allowed him to keep his trunk. His hand brushed against something that felt strange.

A sudden panic gripped him as he felt the telltale pull of a portkey in his navel. He disappeared in a flash of white light that filled his small room. No one else noticed the strange light. Harry Potter had disappeared from Privet Drive.

Thousands of miles away, blue eyes twinkled and crimson eyes narrowed.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Same as prologue**

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**_Chapter 1_**

Three days later and the Order were close to tearing their hair out in frustration.

'What do you mean Harry's missing?' Molly Weasley screeched. Every person within a ten foot radius of her flinched at the loud sound and took a step back in an unsuccessful attempt to try and save their eardrums.

Everyone except the lone werewolf, Remus Lupin, that is. He was staring at the wooden table of the Weasley residence as if it would solve the mystery of Harry's disappearance. His mind was in a state of shock at loosing the last member of his dysfunctional pack, his cub, so soon after losing the last of his closest friends, Sirius Black. His sharp mind whirled, coming to conclusions before casting them aside as unlikely about the cause of Harry's sudden departure. He remained blissfully unaware of the bustle around him, trapped mercifully within his mind for the short period of time.

'What do you mean? How could he have possibly disappeared without a trace? Surely someone was guarding him?!' Hermione's voice joined the screeching of Molly, recognizable by the distinctive high pitch of her worry.

'How could he have gone missing?' Ginny's worried voice joined the fray.

'Damn Dung fell asleep again, we can't even tell when Potter disappeared from his residence,' Moody's growl added as he cast a glare in Mundungus Fletcher's direction.

Dung was looking sheepish, but obviously not sorry-looking enough for Molly who was onto him in seconds.

'How _dare_ you fall asleep while on duty! You were entrusted to watch Harry! Not us that time to catch up on your beauty sleep!' Molly screeched as she snatched the shorter wizard up and shook him harshly, expressing her deep ire.

The Weasley children were stunned into silence at their mother's behavior. The twins were especially wide eyed.

'Did you …?'

'Yeah … Are you sure …?'

'Absolutely.'

They looked at each other for a second. 'Wicked!' They high-fived each other.

Arthur on the other hand was trying to placate his fuming wife. 'Molly dear, don't you think that's a bit drastic?'

'Absolutely not, Arthur dear, he has had this all coming for a while now,' Molly said in a sickly sweet voice that made Dung turn ashen grey.

Molly whipped out her wand and cast a series of enchantments on Dung. When she was done, Dung was wearing an extremely girly, pink tutu. He had long hair that was in two plaits on either side of his head, heavy make-up had been caked onto his face.

Fred and George stared at their mother in total awe, they looked as if their birthdays and Christmas as well as the Quidditch World Cup in England had happened on the same day.

Molly smirked at Dung. 'That'll only come out in a week and if you try to take it off it will only get worse.' Dung obviously didn't believe her words for he began tugging at his plaits which promptly turned pink to gales of laughter.

'Headmaster, what are we going to do to find Harry?' Molly asked calmly, putting away her wand.

The sky-blue eyes of the wizened headmaster twinkled merrily behind white eyebrows. 'Harry is safe, he will return when he is ready,' was all the Dumbledore offered on the subject to the frustration of the rest of the Order.

'But headmaster-'

'Professor you can't-'

'But Harry-'

Dumbledore put out his hand, silencing the outraged objections.

'It all comes down to two things. Do you trust my judgment?'

Heads nodded, the younger a bit more reluctant than the older.

'Do you trust Harry's judgement?'

This time it was the younger ones who nodded more decisively than their elders, who nodded only after some consideration and then only reluctantly.

'Then there you have it,' Dumbledore exclaimed, a bit too cheerfully in some people's opinion.

'But Headmaster, he is only a boy!' Molly protested.

'He is a young man, Molly,' Dumbledore said gently. 'He has a good head on his shoulders. You need to trust his judgement. He needs you to trust _him_.'

Molly nodded reluctantly.

'Professor, you know where he is don't you?'

'Perhaps.'

'Is he safe?'

'That would depend on what you would consider safe but he will return unharmed if that is what you are asking.'

Hermione nodded with a wry smile. 'That's good enough for me.'

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**Thank you to Pleine Lune for being my first reviewer. I can only hope there was meant to be a "not" somewhere (before the last two words) :D.**

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited already, I'm not going to add names in case I misspell something, forget someone or completely miss someone.**

**I'm going to try to write one chapter a day, but the chapters are probably going to be really short. I apologize in advance if that annoys anyone.**


	3. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer:_********Same as prologue**

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**_Chapter 2_**

Harry landed at his unknown destination rather well but he knew that was only because of the death grip he held over his trunk. He was slightly disorientated by the sudden pull and took a minute to gather himself before opening his eyes.

That portkey was not one of the conventional portkeys due to the fact that it felt both like he was being pulled by the navel _and_ squeezed through a rather uncomfortably thin tube. A feeling apparently associated with apparating if he remembered Hermione's apparating speech after the Quidditch World Cup a few years prior.

Harry looked around. His surroundings were vaguely familiar in the way that it felt as well as the size but Harry was sure he had never been that room before until he noticed the various portraits lining the walls, all of which looked suspiciously familiar. The one directly behind the chair however was not the same as he remembered it to be, he had vaguely noticed this previous headmaster to the right of where he was currently located. Next to … what was his name again? Ah yes, Dippet. Which meant that …

Harry stared at the sleeping portrait in shock, not really noticing what he was seeing. It was Hogwarts' magic that created and kept all previous headmasters and headmistresses portraits on the wall in the current Headmaster's office. They could not be removed from their position, despite many previous headmasters futile attempts. Harry had been forced to look that up for one of the few essays they had to write for History of Magic not on Goblin wars.

Harry's brow furrowed. The only way for that to be possible would be for him to have gone _back_ in time for no magic could bring back the dead. Though going back further than a day was also said to be impossible.

The door opened behind him, jolting him out of his confused whirlwind of thoughts. An aging man of average height entered the room, his face turned sideways talking to someone behind him.

'-then we must-Say what are you doing in here?' the man asked, catching sight of Harry's rather lost looking form. Harry noticed the wizard in front of him looked similar to the headmaster in the portrait behind Dumbledore's chair. He deduced that the old wizard before him was Headmaster Dippet.

'I'm not entirely sure of that myself,' Harry said wryly.

Another auburn-haired man followed the Headmaster into his office curiously. Harry was not as surprised as he honestly should have been at seeing a younger Dumbledore after seeing him from Tom Riddle's diary memory. This Dumbledore looked around the same age as the one from Riddle's memory. Strange.

'Very well. Let us see if we can sort out your dilemma. I hope you do not mind the presence of my Deputy Albus Dumbledore?' The man, Headmaster Dippet Harry reminded himself, said not unkindly.

Harry shook his head and sat down on one of the seats Dippet had motioned him towards. Dippet took a seat behind the table and Dumbledore conjured a chair off to Dippet's right side.

'Would you mind explaining to us how you were able to enter my office without me being alerted by the wards?' Dippet asked gently. At Harry's shake of the head. He changed his question. 'What can you tell us about how you arrived here?'

'All due respect, sir, but I doubt you will believe me if I tell you the truth even if it is under the truth enchantment placed in your office,' Harry stated resignedly.

'We can promise to keep an open mind,' Dumbledore offered, eyes twinkling.

'Very well. Firstly, what is the current year?'

Now Harry had both the wizards attention piqued. '1944, my boy but surely-'

'Please keep an open mind, Professors,' Harry said, wearily closing his eyes. Harry heard the sighs coming from the two men.

'As of about ten years ago, I was in the Wizarding community of year 1996.'

Harry could honestly say he was expecting the gasps of outraged disbelief coming from the two headmasters, however, he had not counted the fact that the portraits would be waking up.

'Lies, obviously,' came the sneering tone of Phineas Black.

'Impossible! The boy simply cannot-' a distinctively feminine voice rose above the rest in outrage.

'Please, let the boy speak,' a low baritone voice cut through the muttering of the portraits, silencing them instantly. Harry turned to look at the portrait who had spoken and effectively silenced all the previous heads of Hogwarts.

The man had raven black hair than seemed to have hints of green when the light hit it at specific angles. His eyes were a pale green that were startling in their intensity. His clothes were of an old wizarding style which had long since been forgotten, in various shades of green with hints of silver. Harry knew without having to look at the small silver plaque below his portrait, that this was Salazar Slytherin. What shocked Harry was the fact that he was actually present in the Headmaster's office. It had been unheard of for him to appear in his portrait, as he had not used it for decades. The man gave Harry a small nod to continue talking after Harry made not effort to do so himself.

'Yes well, as I was saying, I am from the WIzarding World of 1996 and have absolutely no clue how I have landed here, leave along this _time period_ thus have no way of even attempting to figure anything out myself let alone _explain_ it to anyone else. I apologize,' Harry said, gathering his remaining wits.

'Well obviously there must have been a trigger for you to be dragged out of your time, do you have such an item?' Dippet asked.

Harry's forehead furrowed before his expression brightened considerably and he dug into his trunk, intent on finding that foreign object that had both felt like a portkey and apparition.

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**Thank you once again to everyone who favourited and followed this story so far.**

**_i am the chameleon_**** – this chapter kinda answers your first question and the next would probably answer your other question but I have to do a wee bit of research between now and then. Sorry. As for the updates, I am going to try posting a chapter daily and working on the next chapter right after I post the previous one.**

**_Pleine Lune _****– thank you for reviewing again, I am eternally grateful for that :D**


	4. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as Prologue**

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**_Chapter 3_**

It was with a triumphant sound, minutes later that Harry withdrew his hand from within the depths of his trunk. Within the confines of his hand, a tiny, silver object was revealed lying on his palm with and innocence that bellied its actions. It was a ring, Harry realized, with a crest of some sort engraved upon the onyx stone set upon its silver base.

A short gasp left the throat of the deputy Headmaster before the ring sailed through the air to land neatly upon the palm on Dumbledore's hand. Dumbledore flicked his wrist to examine the ring closely. He seemed to recognize the crest. Suddenly Dumbledore's body stiffened and his eyes glazed over but the moment passed and he returned to his normal state once again, eyes twinkling merrily.

'What happened?' Dippet asked, looking at Dumbledore curiously.

'It seems what this young man says is the truth. He does, in fact, come from the future. The wizard who sent his back left a message in this ring, confirming everything he has just said. Curious piece of magic that,' Dumbledore chuckled lightly. 'He has a message for our young Mister Potter here,' he deftly ignored the sharp gasp from his left and turned to face Harry. 'He says that you should not be afraid to do what you must as what you will do has already been done. Everything has already come to pass.' Harry's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

That message had only further confirmed his suspicions of who had sent him close to 50 years into the past. This whole escapade practically _sang_ Dumbledore.

Dumbledore handed the ring back to Harry. 'Keep it,' he said. 'The ring is yours now.'

'But … what … why … whose is it?'

'Yours my dear boy,' Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily.

Harry's brow furrowed for a moment. 'What crest is engraved onto the stone? You seem to recognize it,' Harry said carefully. Dumbledore was always confusing if he wanted to be or if asked vague questions.

'The boy is sharp, Albus,' Headmaster Dippet said with a smile, drawing Harry's attention back to the fact that there was another person in the room with them as well as the fact that they were not in the 1990s.

'I expected no less. That crest is the Dumbledore family crest. That ring in particular is the Dumbledore Heir ring. It has been lost to our family for many years now,' Dumbledore genially waved away Harry's rising protest. 'It is of no consequence, besides that ring seems to have been meant to be found for you.'

Harry gaped at Dumbledore's casual dismissal of a family heirloom.

'It will help you with your cover story if you wore it,' Dumbledore continued as if it was absolutely normal simply handing over his family's heir ring to a stranger. 'Headmaster, would it be possible for Mister Potter to join us as a student of Hogwarts for as long as necessary?'

Harry sighed and leaned back on his chair. It was no use trying to argue with the man. It was as good as arguing with a brick wall. Absolutely useless. It seemed Headmaster Dippet was aware of this fact.

'I don't see a problem with it except for the fact that Mister Potter obviously cannot attend Hogwarts as a Potter. The Potters of this time are rather well known for being faithful to each other and as such only have one child, Christopher Potter. However, you look rather different from him obviously a Black married into the Potter line at some point between now and the time you were born,' Dippet said thoughtfully. 'The messy hair is somewhat common right now, so your appearance needs no changes.'

'I would suggest your surname be Morin,' Dumbledore said after consideration. 'The Morins were family friends of the Dumbledores for many years before the last of the family was killed in one of the Grindelward raids over the recent year. It would be a good reason for me to give you the Dumbledore heir ring. My brother, Abeforth, would not really care much. He was never one for politics anyway. You would have to meet him before the year starts though.'

'So Harry what would you like to be called?'

After some consideration and playing around of the sound of various names with his chosen surname, Harry chose to drop the middle name. With a final decisive nod of the head, he made up his mind. 'Aidan.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'It is a good name.'

It took only a few more short discussions for them to finalize the finer details. Harry had decided to take Charms, Defence, Warding, Runes, Potions, Transfiguration and Arithmacy. Dumbledore had offered to help Harry catch up to sixth year level in any subjects where he may need to catch up to sixth year subject material, namely Warding, Runes and Arithmacy but also with the possible odd Potions lesson or two that Headmaster Dippet had offered when he was not too busy. It seemed Dumbledore was not too well versed in the _subtle arts of Potion making_ as Snape would have said.

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**Please note that in my Hogwarts of the past, more subjects are offered due to the Ministry being more efficient in the past than when Fudge took over. I think he would have tried to remove the "difficult" subjects to make Hogwarts results look better than they would have been otherwise **

**Thank you to everyone who favourited and followed again. I recognize many of the pennames as people whose stories I follow and I practically vibrate with excitement. **

**i am the chameleon: No problem :D And well for your other question … well I know what Harry is supposed to do but the reason … well … I hope its kinda explained in this chapter…**

**SkylerKnight: Thank you**


	5. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

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**_Chapter 4_**

It was a month before the school year would start, but by no means was Harry relaxing. His mind was already reverting into "school-mode," trying desperately to catch up to where he was supposed to be. No easy task by all means.

Arithmacy was not truly as difficult as Harry had suspected when he was in third year. Runes, on the other hand, was giving Harry a lot more trouble than he first thought it would. Warding was only difficult due to the use of various runes and the fact that it was necessary to understand how two runes would react with each other before using them. Headmaster Dippet had made enough time for a few Potions lessons, enough Potions lessons to realize that Harry's Potion making was not as terrible as he had thought. Snape had been a rather biased teacher, always making the Gryffindors Potion making skills seem worse than they were, always finding faults.

Slowly, Harry was getting used to being called Aidan and "Mister Morin" on occasion. He knew he would still react whenever someone called "Potter" though, something that could easily be passed off as a reaction to loud sounds.

The cover story, however, took a lot more time to come up with than Harry's name was. They had finally decided on the cover story a mere two days ago. Harry, or rather Aidan, would be a half-blood which would allow him to be as unfamiliar of the pureblood ways as he was. His cover was that he had been hiding in the muggle world for a year after his parents were killed to make sure Grindelward was not after him. Linda Morin had been a muggleborn witch and thus was chosen to be Aidan's "mother" and Brian Morin, Linda Morin's husband, his father. Both had been killed during a raid about a year ago.

The Headmasters asked nothing of Harry's past. It seemed as if they wanted him to only remember who he was supposed to be now. Aidan Morin. Harry did not mind, they were trying to help him.

Aidan had basically caught up on all that he needed to a week before the eve of the Hogwarts students' return. He had been taking advantage of the library while the teachers arrived at Hogwarts and readied themselves for the coming year. Aidan split his daylight hours between visiting Aberforth and meeting the Professors as they arrived.

Aberforth Dumbledore had proven to be a rather intriguing wizard. He owned Hogs Head pub in Hogsmeade and was close by for whenever Aidan was bored and wanted to get out of the castle for a while. The man was only a few years younger than his brother the Deputy Headmaster but looked much younger than that. The man had a carefree, welcoming air to him and preferred simplicity. The man seemed to hold a deep sorrow; something Aidan could only assume had something to do with his sister. He had no objections to Aidan having the Dumbledore Heir ring.

Aidan was also introduced to the portrait of what looked like a young girl. The only thing that gave her away was the bright blue of her irises which were so similar to those of her brothers. She had been waving cheerfully when they first met and Aidan soon found out she was quite talkative. Despite only being a portrait, she seemed to radiate suppressed energy almost as if she would simply walk out of the portrait and share her happiness.

She told Aidan that she was the youngest Dumbledore sibling, she told Aidan of many stories. Stories of her parents, stories of the merciless teasing of the two young muggle boys who were her neighbours, she told him stories of the charming blonde German boy and her oldest brother, Arianna simply talked, it seemed, because she was lonely. Aidan was a good listener, he gasped in all the right places and sympathized when it was needed. Arianna was pleased at her attentive audience and always asked Aidan to return when he could. Aberforth simply seemed happy to see his sister as excited and happy as she was every time Aidan visited.

Finally the morning of September 1st dawned. Aidan was nervous and excited. He would be Sorted with the First Years as it would be his "first year" at Hogwarts. Aidan knew there was a rather good chance that he would be Sorted into Slytherin, if his first Sorting had been any indication. He doubted the Sorting Hat would allow him to get away with arguing this time.

Aidan spent his last day alone in Hogwarts out by the lake with a Runes book in his hand, his final bid in attempt to be on par with his year. Hogwarts was silent, all the Professors adding the final preparations to their classrooms and charming the candles in the Great Hall.

As dusk set in, the chatter of voices rose from beyond the doors of the Great Hall. Aidan found his nerves returning to the surface no matter how hard her tried to squash down the feeling the entire day. Aidan was coming down the flight of stairs, when he noticed a familiar figure with a green tie.

The figure turned back to speak to the person behind him. Aidan inhaled sharply. Despite the distance, Aidan was certain of the identity of that particular student. It would be truly difficult to forget it.

Tom Marvolo Riddle was still at Hogwarts.

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**Thank you once again to everyone who followed and favourited this story as well as to everyone who is taking the time to read this story.**

**NightStalkersRevenge: Thank you**

**Tuinne: Thank you. I truly hadn't thought of it that way. I simply wanted to find a way that did not write Dumbledore's name down in stone but implied it.**


	6. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

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**_Chapter 5_**

Aidan mentally swore. He had not thought to ask either Headmaster Dippet or Dumbledore the current year. Aidan had the sudden urge to flee back up the stairs but quickly suppressed that strange urge knowing it would draw a lot of attention to his person, especially if these Slytherins were as observant as they would be in the future.

Thankfully, Dumbledore spotted Aidan at that moment, drawing his attention away from the Slytherin boys who were entering the Great Hall.

'Aidan my boy,' Dumbledore said in greeting. 'The new First Years should be here shortly. I dare say the boats are still used for the First Years during your time?' Seeing Aidan's expression he chuckled, 'Surely it was not as bad as that?'

'Not for me, thankfully it was not raining. It was for the couple of years after me. Some people even fell in the lake,' Aidan scowled.

The pounding of many little feet along the stone floor of the castle soon alerted the two to the arrival of the First Years. Aidan could not imagine being that small but reckoned he was at the very beginning of his Hogwarts schooling career. Just as terrified too. He remembered Ron telling him about having to fight a troll to be Sorted. Aidan shook his head fondly, he knew better now than he did before.

Aidan moved his attention back to the mass of students before him. He recognized no one in particular; however, every couple of faces he looked at, he could see features that reminded him of the future students that would walk through these very halls. Aidan had drowned out the entirety of Dumbledore's speech, knowing vaguely of what it would entail. The usual greeting and welcome to Hogwarts, and the introduction to the Houses and the house system. The students were not led to another, smaller room but were led directly into the Great Hall, much to Aidan's surprise.

Aidan followed the group into the Great Hall, feeling largely out of place and clearly looking out of place. Aidan towered over the shorter First Years, attracting a lot of attention to his person. Undeterred Aidan continued the short walk to stand at the back of the group that had stopped just a few meters shy of the Professors' table.

The Sorting Hat looked only slightly less worn than it had been the last time Aidan had seen it. That was only expected though, the Hat was supposed to be centauries old surely fifty-something odd years was not going to make _that_ much of a difference. The Hat opened at the brim and began to sing. Gasps of enchantment surrounded Aidan but he was not focused on the words the Hat spoke, his mind had returned to his own first year. Surrounded by many other children, many of whom would become his friends others would turn out to be his rivals and few would simply fade into the background and remained wallflowers during those five years.

The Hat had stopped singing and Aidan was jerked out of his thoughts once again. He began clapping with all the other students. Dumbledore began calling out names, knowing his name would be called out last, Aidan ignored the Sorting completely. He looked towards the Gryffindor table instinctively, fiery red haired witches and wizards were sparsely decorating the table reminding Aidan painfully of the Weasleys, the first family he ever had. A teenage McGonagall was also visibly present sitting next to a man that had untidy hair that was similar to his own. The only difference was the fact that the hair was brown and his eyes were a clear blue. With a jolt, Aidan realized that must be his grandfather. He was leaning over to talk to the blonde girl sitting next to him.

Aidan recognized the silvery-blond hair that looked almost exactly like Luna's hair at the Hufflepuff table. The woman sitting next to him looked extremely familiar to Aidan. It took a moment for him to realize why. He had seen an older version of that exact face at least one time every year. It was Madame Pomfrey. The Ravenclaw table held no familiar face to Aiden.

Lastly, Aidan turned to the Slytherin table, almost afraid of looking there. Aidan noticed the group he had spotted walking into the Great Hall before Dumbledore had come to talk to him. There were two platinum blonds in the group. They looked like twins and were obviously Malfoys, they also had the trademark blue-grey eyes of the Malfoys. Tom Riddle sat with the male Malfoy twin to his right and the female twin directly in front of him. There were a few students who looked a bit like Sirius had. The older sister looked more like Sirius than the one that sat to Tom Riddle's left. Aidan had no doubt that she would one day be Sirius's mother, if her scowl at the boy sitting next to her was anything to go by. Green eyes travelling down the table, Aidan was shocked to notice the younger version of the grizzly, one-eyed auror Aidan knew in the future. The paranoia obviously had not begun suddenly, Aidan realized as he watched the boy eye everyone around him suspiciously for a while. Finally, Aidan was the only person still standing before the Professors' table. The Professors smiled at Aidan as he caught their eyes.

'We have one new addition to our Sixth Years this year. We welcome Aidan Morin to our student population in hope that he will grow in this new environment,' Headmaster Dippet announced.

Aidan walked up to the Sorting Hat and placed the slightly frayed hat on his head. It fit better than it did the first time but still slipped over his eyes, to Aidan's great annoyance. How big did they expect eleven year olds heads to be? Aidan wondered.

Gravelly chuckling filled Aidan's head. 'I was created to block out the stares of the older students of Hogwarts. Some first years do not enjoy that much attention on them. It would terrify the poor souls,' the Sorting Hat answered in Aidan's head. Aidan had to concede that it was a good idea. He would have been terrified by the students' stares while a voice talked to him from within his head.

'Oh, it looks like I have been through this brain once before … or should I saw will be through this brain in the future. I was warned of your particular case beforehand by the Headmaster. I must say it is a unique experience. Hmmm,' the Hat was silent for several long moments. Aidan heard whispers break out among the students. The Hat was taking an abnormally large amount of time.

'I see I was correct in my wish to place you in Slytherin last time and I stand by my first decision. Will you oppose it again?' the Hat did not wait long as Aidan already knew he would not oppose being in Slytherin. He had realized he had been unfair last time.

'SLYTHERIN!'

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**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story. It is greatly appreciated.**

**cookieofwood: Glad you liked it. I have plans for Arianna but am not entirely sure if it will work as planned or not. I liked JK's idea of the portrait of Arianna.**

**Ecila Raveniz Thgilyad: Sorry about that but I've got to keep things interesting.**

**Rainbow2007: Thank you. You reviewed every single chapter, I am grateful for that.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:**** Same as prologue**

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**_Chapter 6_**

Aidan handed the Hat back to Dumbledore, who sent him an encouraging smile, and made his way to the politely clapping, green and silver house on the far end of the Great Hall. It was a lot different from the cheers and yells that had come from the Gryffindor House the last time Aidan was Sorted but he was grateful that this time he was not famous and no one expected anything from him.

Aidan sat at the edge of the Slytherin table, near the First Year Slytherins and ignored the wary glances from the upper years. It was out of Hogwarts tradition to join Hogwarts during their Sixth Year, it was too close to graduation that it was illogical to transfer that late. Not only would he need to seemingly _get used to the castle_ but also _catch up to their level_. Aidan was not too worried about either of those problems. He knew that the lack of information on him was truly annoying the older Slytherins who prided themselves on knowing.

The Feast passed quickly and Aidan found himself rising with the rest of the school. He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed Riddle's black hair dart to the front of the Slytherin group of students, clearly he had been made a prefect this year. The older of the Black sisters began making her way towards the First Years. As she came closer, Aidan recognized her face from the portrait of Sirius's screaming mother in Grimmuld Place. Her face had cleared of the scowl she had worn earlier and she was smiling warmly, an expression Aidan had never seen on her face.

Aidan vaguely heard her introduce herself as Walburga Black and that she was a Slytherin prefect. She led them down into the dungeons and told them the password as they faced the brick wall that was the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. Professor Slughorn was waiting for them there. All the older Slytherins had already disappeared into their dorms, leaving only the new Slytherin students standing wearily in the middle of the Common Room.

'Welcome to Slytherin!' Professor Slughorn's voice boomed. The First Years still looked weary. 'The Slytherin House is the noble house of snakes. We protect our own. During the course of your schooling career here at Hogwarts, this House will be like your family. If you have any problems, do not be afraid to come to me for you are my responsibility for this year and many years to come. Now, your dorms are the ones closest to the Common Room. Girls to my left, boys to my right. Off you go. Aidan could you stay back for a second?'

Aidan walked up to Professor Slughorn while the First Years cleared out of the Common Room slowly. The professor waited until they were alone before he began speaking.

'I'm sure you are aware of the fact that you will be sharing your dorm room with the other Sixth Years?' At Aidan's nod, he continued. 'It will be difficult, they have spent six years together and know each other reasonably well. It will be difficult, but not impossible. Good luck, Aidan.' Professor Slughorn left the Common Room. Aidan stared into the golden flames contained in the fireplace for a while before he gathered his wits and followed the passage on the right, knowing he would have to face the Sixth Year boys at some point in the night if he wanted to go to sleep. The sooner the better, Aidan thought wryly.

Aidan stepped through the sixth door down the corridor. It was just a bit colder than the Common Room but not by much. There were five other boys sitting on their beds, they went silent as Aidan stepped through the door. Aidan noticed his trunk lying on the base of one of the beds closest to the door. Riddle and Malfoy had their beds next to each other near the wall opposite the door. The boy in the bed next to Aidan was already changed into his pajamas and looked like he was getting ready for bed.

The boy had black hair and blue eyes. On his other side was Malfoy with Riddle next to him. The last two boys had brown hair and looked like twins. They had identical hazel eyes. All of the occupants of the room had turned to look at Aidan as soon as he had stepped into the room.

'Aidan Morin is it?' the black-haired boy on the bed asked. Aidan nodded slowly. 'I am Alexander Greengrass. The blond is Abraxas Malfoy, next to him is Tom Riddle. The twins are Adrian and Julius Lestrange,' he introduced Aidan to his various dorm mates. 'So why are you here?' the Greengrass boy asked curiously.

'What Alexander means to ask is why have you joined Hogwarts during your Sixth year?' Malfoy drawled from the other side of the room.

'It was the only place I could think of returning to. Dumbledore is the only person I have left,' Aidan answered, trying not to look at any of the Slytherins.

'I for one, find it difficult to believe Dumbledore would be so accepting of you becoming a Slytherin. Obviously it would have been easier for him if you were Sorted into Gryffindor,' Riddle drawled. 'He is the Gryffindor Head of House.'

Aidan shrugged. 'I guess me being in Hogwarts was good enough,' was all he answered before turning around to get ready for bed.

Sensing the conversation was over, the other boys got ready for bed as well. Sleep was a long time coming for Aidan. It was early morning before sleep finally encompassed him in her grip.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story. The stats for this story are astronomically high. I get really excited every time I see them.**

**rentamiya: Thank you.**

**Pleine Lune: Is it just me, or do words always get cut out of your reviews? But thank you anyway.**

**NightStalkersRevenge: Neither can I, that must be a bit strange though, me not knowing that. I am going to try and update daily, unless something major comes up. I have my allocated time and am going to stick to it!**

**Ecila Raveniz Thgilyad: Lol, that was the longest chapter of the story thus far, but I am glad you enjoyed it.**


	8. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 7_**

Before Aidan had even realized it, he had spent a month in the Slytherin dorms. Many of the spells used during lessons would have been foreign to him had he not had those lessons with Dumbledore before the start of the school year, something he found himself increasingly grateful for. Aidan had managed to avoid the Sixth Year Slytherins as much as he possibly could in attempt to prevent Second Year memories from rising within his mind. His sanctuary turned out to be the Room of Requirement he had found during the last year in his time.

The only places Aidan found himself unable to avoid his fellow Sixth Years was during lesson time, where Aidan had found, to his horror, he took exactly the same classes as Riddle did. Aidan had made a point to sit as far away from Riddle as he possibly could during each of his lessons, without being too obvious, for the past month but his luck had unfortunately run out during his current Defence lesson. Riddle had casually dropped his bag by the chair next to Aidan and joined him at his table as if he had done it every lesson.

'Morin,' Riddle greeted as he sat down.

'Riddle,' Aidan replied as casually as he could.

'How have you been enjoying Hogwarts thus far?'

Aidan thought for a minute before answering, 'It takes some getting used to. It's … different.'

Riddle nodded knowingly. 'It is a unique experience. It may be overwhelming at first but it is worth it.'

Aidan was saved from replying to that by the arrival of Professor Prince. 'Turn to page one hundred and forty four. Today we are going to be studying Dementors. Who can tell me the best protection from a Dementor?'

Like in Aidan's time, Defence was shared between Gryffindors and Slytherins except in this time the two Houses did not seem to hate each other. Rather they seemed to be united. Aidan could see many friendships between the Houses and silently mourned the loss of such friendships during his own time. Well, a mad Dark Lord can do that to a school, Aidan thought.

'Aidan?' Professor Prince called. 'Could you tell us the spell used to counter a Dementor's abilities?'

'The Patronus Charm, Professor.'

'The incantation? ' the professor prodded further.

'Expecto Patronum.'

'Would you like to try the spell?'

Aidan groaned mentally. He did _not_ want to draw any attention to himself in this time. He nodded none the less and moved towards the open space on the other end of the room.

'Expecto patronum!' Aidan called firmly. As expected the white mist flew from Aidan's wand and began circling to form a four legged form. To Aidan's surprise, however, the form was no longer in the form of a white stag but a shaggy haired grim was in its place. Gasps came from the other students on the other side of the classroom. Aidan chose to ignore them for now, knowing the damage was already done. He knelt down and the grim half-ran towards him. 'Padfoot?' he whispered with a slight smile. The grim only gave a doggy-grin, rubbed its head on Aidan's knee and disappeared into white mist once more.

'Well done Mister Morin! 50 points to Slytherin for that excellent conjuration of a corporeal patronus,' Professor Prince cried from the front of the classroom.

Aidan went back to his seat next to Riddle, still a bit stunned at the change of his patronus. He ignored the calculating look within Riddle's eye.

'You looked surprised when you conjured your patronus, why?' Riddle whispered while Professor Prince continued to point out all the finer points of casting the Patronus Charm using Aidan's demonstration as her example.

'My patronus changed shape,' Aidan answered curtly, knowing Riddle would not stop asking questions until he knew what he wanted to know.

'How do you mean?'

Aidan sighed. 'A patronus changes shape when the caster has gone through an emotional upheaval or a particularly rough patch. In my case. My patronus changed from my father to my godfather. Does that satisfy your curiosity or do you require further clarification on my personal life?' Aidan snapped at Riddle before storming out of the classroom just as the lesson ended, barely hearing the two foot essay they needed to write for homework on the Patronus Charm as he left the classroom.

Aidan was thankful that it was lunch. He did not think he would be able to last another lesson in the same classroom as Riddle. After making a quick stop at the kitchens, the house elves were more than pleased to give him food to eat, he made his way up to the library with the full intention of getting the Defense essay done.

That was not to be. On his way to the library, Aidan all but ran into Riddle as he turned the corner to the library.

'I'm sorry,' Aidan said as he bent down to pick up his fallen books.

'No, no. I apologize, I should have been looking where I was walking,' the person Aidan had walked into chuckled as he bent down to help Aidan gather his books and the various pieces of parchment. 'I'm sorry for what I said earlier, I realized I was being rude. I apologize.'

Aidan stiffened at the sound of his voice but relaxed some after the other boy's apology. 'It's fine. I should not have been so uptight. Just a bit stressed I guess,' Aidan forced out a smile.

'I can imagine,' Riddle said. 'Why aren't you eating lunch in the Great Hall with the rest of the school?'

'I could ask you the very same question,' Aidan replied as they started walking towards the library.

'Touché,' Riddle said. 'Trying to get an early start on the Defense essay?' At Aidan's nod, he wondered into the library for a second before returning with a few books in his arms. 'Here these should help.'

'What, do you know this entire library off by heart?' Aidan asked incredulously.

'Not yet, but I'm working on it,' Riddle joked lightly.

Aidan couldn't help himself, he laughed. Riddle joined in his laughter a little while later.

'Thank you.' Aidan said after a while. Riddle smiled in return, pulled out a book from his bag and begun reading. He shrugged lightly at Aidan's incredulous look and brushed it off with a careless, 'It is interesting.'

* * *

**Pleine Lune: I understand your pain. Touch screen is a painful (and sometimes embarrassing) invention.**

**rentamiya: Glad you liked it :D**


	9. Chapter 8

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue.**

* * *

**_Chapter 8_**

The rest of the day passed in a similar manner. Riddle chose to sit next to Aidan for every lesson afterwards. When dinner approached, Riddle dragged a very reluctant Aidan to the Great Hall where he would have what would be his second meal with his House.

'But I _don't_ want to!' Aidan protested as he was physically dragged away from the library. Riddle had wordlessly started packing all of his books, his parchment and somehow had even managed to remove the quill Aidan was holding and packed it in his bag. Riddle had then gripped Aidan's upper arm tightly and began dragging him out of the library. Madame Davis had glared at them as they crossed her gaze. Aidan looked at her apologetically as he passed her, knowing full well of the possibility of her not allowing him to step foot into the library again.

'But you are _going to_,' Riddle replied resiliently, his grip on both Aidan's bag and arm unyielding.

'Why do I have to go to the Great Hall for meals? I can easily get food from-'

'Because it is a necessary socializing period during the day that you, as a Slytherin, _will_ partake in!' Riddle announced. Aidan was stunned into silence at the answer he received. 'Besides there are people that want to meet you,' Riddle added as an afterthought.

Aidan spluttered. 'Why could they not have simply come to me after a lesson or something? Was it absolutely necessary for you to drag me through Hogwarts, _disgracefully_ might I add, to meet people who _I_ may or may not _want_ to meet?' Aidan protested. Riddle did not deem Aidan's questions with any response but to tighten his grip to painful levels. Aidan yelped in response.

Riddle only handed Aidan his bag back once they were just outside the Great Hall doors. He smoothed down his imaginary creases and walked in. Aidan simply shrunk his bag and straightened his skew robes before following Riddle's lead. There was no backing out now.

To Aidan's surprise, Riddle was already seated by the time he had made his way towards the Slytherin table. Riddle waved Aidan over to the seat next to him. It was then that Aidan realized that not everyone around him was in Slytherin, although the majority clearly was. There were three Gryffindors, two Ravenclaws and two Hufflepuffs. The Gryffindors were the same ones Aidan had noticed during the Sorting Ceremony; the blonde haired girl, the brown messy haired boy and, with a jolt Aidan realized the last person to be his old Transfiguration teacher, but he had to act like he did not know her. Aidan did not recognize either one of the Ravenclaws seated around the table. The last two, he did recognize. The boy's hair was exactly the same shade of blond as Aidan remembered Luna's hair to be, this must be a close relative to Luna, a father or uncle. The last woman was a familiar face to Aidan, although admittedly younger than he remembered her. One had to recognize the person that had healed them on multiple occasions.

Aidan sat down slowly. _This_ was what he was trying to avoid, meeting the people he knew the older versions of. Despite the warning he had received, Aidan was still terrified of letting out more information than he could possibly explain knowing especially around familiar faces. It was going to be so very difficult.

'Aidan Morin, Hogwarts' mystery student,' the blonde haired girl said jokingly. 'I am Olivia Caston but please call me Liv. Olivia sounds too formal,' she sounded slightly annoyed at the admittance.

'Olivia is a beautiful name,' the male Malfoy twin said. 'I'm Abraxas Malfoy by the way.'

'Smooth Brax, real smooth,' his twin snorted while rolling her eyes at her brother. 'I am Rachael Malfoy. You know Tom of course, the black haired girl next to him is Dorea Black. The other Gryffindors are Minerva Dawson and Christopher Potter. The Puffs are Xeno Lovegood and Poppy. The Ravenclaw next to Min is Brendan and this is Theo,' she said pointing at the Ravenclaw boy next to her. Aidan was sitting next to what must either be his grandfather or great-grandfather.

'You didn't manage to do much better,' Brendan teased. 'You seemed to have lost focus half way.'

Aidan watched their bantering, feeling lost amidst the chatter. What had happened to split this group of friends up? How did the Tom Riddle he was looking at now end up as the red eyed megalomaniac Aidan remembered him as. Obviously it had to be something big.

'You look lost,' Madame- erm _Poppy_ said, leaning over the arguing siblings. 'Don't worry about it, you'll get used to it soon enough.' She smiled at Aidan kindly. Aidan was hit with a wave of homesickness. He could imagine Ron and Hermione arguing over some small inconsequential thing in his mind's eye, Hermione finally getting riled up enough to either storm off in a fury or hex Ron in her ire. Neither was particularly fun to be on the receiving end of.

'-dan? Aidan!'

Aidan looked up and into the slightly annoyed face of Rachael Malfoy.

'What happened to you? I was calling your name for a while, you seemed to space out.' Rachael looked slightly worried.

'Sorry,' Aidan said, waving his hand airily. 'I was just reminded of something.'

No one looked particularly convinced but they allowed the subject to drop. 'So how have you liked Hogwarts so far?' Professor-_Minerva_ asked Aidan.

'It is okay, I guess. I haven't seen a lot of the school yet though,' Aidan answered.

'What have you been doing all this time?' Dorea cried, hitting Tom on the arm. 'We told you to befriend the poor boy _weeks_ ago.'

'In my defense, "the poor boy" is rather adept in hiding,' Tom said dryly. 'Today was the first possible time for me to approach Aidan, he nearly hexed me on many occasions!' Tom cried in mock outrage.

'Oh, so the person that was sneaking around the shelves in the library was you? I never knew that,' Aidan said blandly. 'I'll gladly stop _attempting_ to hex you and hex you next time if you really want.'

The eleven students went silent and stared at Aidan in shock. 'What?'

'He got you Tom, he got you good!'

Riddle seemed unable to do anything more than gape in shock.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story, and to the few people that followed and favourited me.**

**NightStalkersRevenge: Thank you, although I really did not expect them to meet like that. These two are really thickheaded.**

**Ecila Raveniz Thgilyad: I'm not entirely sure how to reply to that … :D**

**Tuinne: You are welcome. :D Glad to be of service.**

**AnnaPotterSuperWitch: Thank you**

**rentamiya: No problem. Great! Glad you enjoyed it. Like I told NightStalkersRevenge these two are probably going to do what they want and drag me along with them, kicking and screaming.**

**Lemrinth: So do I, so do I (said mournfully)**

**SkylerKnight: Well there's more … I guess**


	10. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimer:_**** same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 9_**

From that dinner onwards, Aidan always found himself seated next to one of the group of friends during all of his classes. Riddle was the most common occupant of the chair next to him in classes but found himself unable to move Aidan away from the library forcibly again and found himself on the receiving end of many of Aidan's spells once again, to the amusement of Riddle's friends.

Riddle had taken to spend some of his lunch break with Aidan in the library. Riddle was quite good company when he wanted to be, both Aidan and Tom found themselves forgetting about their homework or books about halfway through the lunch period, bouncing ideas and opinions off each other. When they disagreed, which tended to be rather often, they would argue each other out. They gave each other valid points and arguments to prove that they were right until one of the two conceded their point. A few times their conversations had even lasted up until they went to bed that night and once it had carried on to the next day. The Court, as the group of friends were dubbed by the rest of the student population, had looked on amused as the two had argued back and forth over supper the one time over the controversial topic of where muggleborns' magic came from.

Tom had the opinion that muggleborns somehow managed to steal the magic they had. Aidan disagreed, he said that muggleborns were not really muggleborns but had a squib as their ancestor somewhere. Aidan argued how could the muggleborns steal something they did not know existed? The Court watched with interest as Aidan shot down each and every single argument Tom found in favour of his opinion, trying to find tips on how to beat the silver-tongued Slytherin in a battle of words and wits.

No one had ever proven Tom wrong on anything. Tom would always counter any arguments so smoothly no one noticed what was happening until they were nodding in agreement with the Slytherin. For the first time in Hogwarts history, Tom lost an argument.

That night, Aidan woke with a gasp. Bright green light still filled his eyes every time he closed his eyelids. The angry faces of his best friends, his parents and Sirius still burned in his memory.

'Aidan? You okay?' came the sleep filled voice of one of the Lestrange twins.

'Yeah, I'm fine. Go back to sleep,' Aidan whispered in reply. Aidan waited for the sound of breathing to even out and crept out of bed. He cast a quick silencing charm on himself as he dug through his trunk and pulled out a book. There was no way he would be able to get any sleep after that.

The Common Room was empty. It was early morning, an ungodly hour to be woken, Aidan thought. The fire was low in the fireplace but logs magically appeared within the fire as Aidan took his first step into the Common Room. He went to sit on the armchair near the fire, Aidan cracked open his book and tried to read. He gave it up as a failed attempt after staring at the same word for half an hour, his mind wondering back to the dream that had just woken him.

Was it true though? Would Ron and Hermione really hate him for befriending the young Lord Voldemort? Would Sirius and his parents really see it as betrayal to befriend the person that would kill them?

Aidan's mind wondered, eyes locked into the center of the flames that were currently licking the logs with their warm touch. No, Hermione and Ron would _not_ _hate_ him for befriending Tom, they would not understand at first but surely they would not _hate_ him for it. Aidan did not know enough about either Sirius or his parents to make that kind of assumption but Aidan doubted they would hate him either. It was just a dream, Aidan thought to himself firmly. Just a dream.

He opened his book once again and with a lighter heart began reading. The book was not as thick as the ones Hermione would read for "light reading" but for Aidan's standards, the book was quite large. He had only just reached the end of the fourth chapter when he heard the soft sounds of the rest of Slytherin House awakening. Tom was almost always one of the first people in the entire house to wake; the last was a tight competition between the Malfoy twins.

'Aidan? You were up early.'

As expected, Tom was wide awake when Aidan entered the Sixth Year dorm room. Aidan packed his book away, 'Yeah. I woke and could not go back to sleep, thought I may as well do something constructive.'

Tom nodded and took all his necessities to get ready for the day. Aidan moved to wake the others that usually woke early, avoiding Abraxas' bed like the plague. The boy was not a morning person, not by a long shot. The last unlucky person to wake Abraxas up had been Alex; he had been hit with a rather painful looking curse. The last person in the dorm always had to wake Abraxas up: it had been an unspoken rule since the start of the year. Aidan had never had to personally wake the Malfoy heir but neither did he ever wish to wake the Malfoy so he rushed to take over the bathroom as soon as Tom and vacated it. One of the twins, Aidan was still not entirely sure who was who rushed past Aidan the second he stepped out of the bathroom door.

Aidan grabbed his bag and left the room. Tom had been waiting for him in the common room.

'Who are the possibilities to wake Brax today?' Tom asked as they made their way towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

'Either Alex or one of the Lestrange twins,' Aidan answered, digging into his bag for his rather crumpled copy of their timetable. Aidan groaned.

'We have Runes then,' Tom said with amusement at Aidan's expression. 'I could help you with Runes if you really find it that difficult you know.'

Aidan's eyes widened. 'Would you? I don't understand what is going on half the time in that class!'

'Sure. We could use the time during lunch as often as you need the help,' Tom shrugged. 'We are in the library anyway.'

Aidan celebrated happily, and just barely prevented himself from doing an airpunch. Tom seemed extremely amused by Aidan's antics.

'Thank you, Tom.'

* * *

**Pleine Lune: I hope so**

**Ecila Raveniz Thgilyad: lol hahaha**

**NightRain1077: That reminded me of myself too, except I don't kick and scream … much**

**J.F.C.: You are very perceptive. It annoys me personally when in some stories Harry gets popped into another time frame and is either "Let's kill Tom Riddle" and ****_doesn't_**** do it or has a seemingly unexplainable reason for hating Tom in the time frame he is in. It's kind of suspicious if you really think about it.**

**Lemrinth: Well the people Tom is surrounded by ****_are_**** the people he trusts enough to be friends with. I doubt anyone if stiff and formal towards the people they consider friends.**

**EquusNanashi: Tom had been sent by his friends to befriend Aidan and ended up spying on Aidan while he worked in the library. Tom did not realize that Aidan knew that Tom was behind the shelves. Aidan had placed spells in the places he knew Tom would hide to watch him which would be set off by somebody that was there for a certain amount of time. The spells usually missed Tom only because he ducked or put up a shield charm in time. Aidan promised to stop missing Tom with the spells and start making them actually hit Tom next time. The "he got you" part was because Tom did not realize what Aidan had been doing, almost like Tom had been pranked by Aidan without Tom knowing. The Twins created this spell to prank Ron and Percy in their dorms.**

**rentamiya: I don't know if I should be terrified or not. I have an idea that you would hunt me down if I abandoned this story (which I won't).**


	11. Chapter 10

**_Disclaimer:_** **Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 10_**

So every other day, Aidan and Tom refrained from arguing over a topic and cracked open a book on Runes to do something constructive with some of their time. Not that arguing _wasn't_ constructive but that did not help them during their school time. What could they do about their opinions anyway?

It was a slow improvement for Aidan. Tom, himself, felt frustrated at times with the slow progress but Aidan seemed to never forget what he learnt so it was a tricky situation that would help in the long run. There weren't _that_ many runes anyway. At the rate they were going, they would just be able to go through all of the runes a couple of weeks before the end of the year exams with enough time to revise after that. A truly _exciting_ prospect, note the sarcasm.

Dorea joined them after a couple of weeks. She explained the runes better and sped up Aidan's progress considerably, to the relief of both Aidan and Tom. Soon it was Tom that was simply reading on the other end of the table while Dorea took over Aidan's Runes education, which ended up taking the entire lunch break every day.

It was two months later, after a few more lessons during the evenings after dinner that Aidan was finally at the level of Runes he was supposed to be at that point. Aidan had been exhausted when he got into bed during those nights, not even awake for the daily conversation in the dorm room after lights went out. He dreamt nothing during those months, something he was grateful for. He did _not_ want a dream like the last one again.

Tom, on the other hand, was getting bored. He could not discuss the new conclusions he had formed from the books he read as Dorea did not want him to distract Aidan. That girl was _scary _when she was angry or didn't get her way, as Tom found out the second day after she had taken over teaching Aidan and he tried to talk to him on the subject of Grey magic. Aidan had sent him an apologetic look while he got a talking down from Dorea, but did nothing to help Tom get out of it. Tom began regretting even asking Dorea to help.

Tom was shocked with himself. He has never had anyone disagree with him just to prove him wrong. He thought he would hate the feeling of being questioned and argued with, but he didn't. It was disconcerting. He did not expect to _miss_ being challenged either nor was it usual to be as open as he was with a person he had known for only a couple months. The boy was truly unique.

When Dorea's lessons were over, both Tom and Aidan felt relieved. The woman was a terror and a hard taskmistress. If she ever did become a professor as she currently aimed to be, they felt truly sorry for all the students that she had to teach.

The day after the last lesson, they met in the library again. After five minutes they realized Dorea wasn't going to come to the library, they heaved great sighs of relief.

'Finally,' Aidan whispered across the table.

'I know,' Tom answered, also whispering. Madame Davis had chosen not to leave the library that day due to the bunch of loud Gryffindors trying to finish the Transfiguration essay due the next lesson a couple of tables over. The noise the Gryffindors were making would easily conceal their conversation but they did not want to risk getting caught talking by Madame Davis in the library. She was currently glaring at the oblivious Gryffindors angrily, they could just make out her fingers twitching towards her wand. No, they would not risk getting cursed by the librarian, after all who knew what spells she knew.

'So what did you want to talk about the day she shouted at you? Sorry about that by the way, it was just the gleam she had in her eye…' Aidan shuddered at the memory.

'Well I definitely learnt never to disturb her again,' Tom said, nodding solemnly in agreement. 'Anyway, you know the …' and they slid easily back into the schedule they had began before Tom had offered to teach Aidan as Aidan no longer needed the help in Runes.

'Aidan Morin?'

The voice cut through the heated debate between Aidan and Tom. They turned to look at the person that had interrupted them. It was one of the younger Ravenclaws, a second year by the look of it.

'Yes?' Aidan prompted after the girl just stared at the two without saying anything for a couple of minutes.

'Professor Dumbledore wants to see you. He says it's not too urgent and it can wait if you are too busy. He's in his office,' the girl squeaked, her voice a couple of octaves higher than it was previously. The girl took off as soon as she had delivered her message, seemingly terrified. Aidan cocked his head to the side.

'Does that happen often?' he asked Tom.

'It does.' Tom nodded. 'I guess it's kinda my fault she took off like that.'

'What? Why would she be terrified of you?' Aidan was curious. Tom didn't seem that scary to him, or maybe it was because the idea of it never scared Aidan. He had never even really been terrified of Tom's counterpart Voldemort.

Tom sighed. 'I'm considered to be the Slytherin Prince because I speak parseltongue, and my group of friend have been dubbed "Merlin's Court" by the rest of the school. For some strange reason or the other everyone in the school seems to listen to us and treat us like … like we are above them or something. No one really knows why they do that, they just do.'

Aidan laughed. 'You're annoyed because the rest of the school treats you like royalty without a reason?' Aidan asked incredulously. 'Unbelievable.'

'Well, we're all crazy in some way or the other,' Tom tried to explain but was cut off by Aidan's muffled laughter. Aidan clasped his hands over his mouth to stop from making a loud noise, slightly thankful for the rowdy Gryffindors for a second. 'What?'

'You do realize that you just called yourself crazy, right?'

Tom looked mock horrified. 'Oh no. Whatever shall I do?'

Aidan was laughing so hard he could no longer make a sound. His shoulders were shaking and tears of mirth were squeezing out of his eyes. 'S-stop i-it!' Aidan said between wracks of laughter. 'M-my s-stomach h-hurts,' he managed to gasp out while holding his stomach. Tom shook his head at Aidan's laughing form.

'How could you laugh over my plight? No one is going to help me defend my sanity now, I've already admitted that I no longer have it,' Tom tutted, only managing to make Aidan laugh even harder than he already was, if that was actually possible.

'P-p-please T-t-tom, I c-c-can't-' Aidan said, his watery green eyes locking on Tom's blue orbs, still shining with mirth. Tom took pity on Aidan when lunch ended and shot Aidan a sobering charm that calmed Aidan instantly.

Aidan gulped in air gratefully. 'That was a good laugh, something I haven't had in a while,' he said over the sound of the panicking Gryffindors as he packed away his ink, quill and parchment into his bag. Tom was waiting for him and they left the library together.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story so far. :D**

**Ecila Raveniz Thgilyad: lol if Tom hexes me, Harry will prank him like crazy :D**

**GinHanelle: It is a happy ending … at least I expect it to be. Thank you :D**

**rentamiya: If I do abandon the story, you can hunt me down. You have my full permission XD.**


	12. Chapter 11

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 11_**

Transfiguration with Dumbledore was the last lesson. It was pure luck that Aidan had remembered the message from the second year Ravenclaw. He stayed behind after the lesson to find out what Dumbledore had wanted to speak to him about. Tom had somehow managed to get Aidan to allow him to stay unless Dumbledore said otherwise. Aidan was wondering how Tom had managed that while the rest of the Slytherin-Hufflepuff Transfiguration class left in groups.

'Professor? You wanted to see me?'

'Ah yes, Aidan my boy. I see you have invited young Mister Riddle to join us as well?' Dumbledore's eyes twinkled while Aidan rolled his eyes in exasperation and Tom looked smug. Obviously at not being told to leave yet. 'Well perhaps it is a good thing he was to insistent to accompany you.'

'Professor?' Aidan was confused. Dumbledore had not been particularly happy at the friendship between Tom and himself but had grown to accept his decision, although he had often warned Aidan against it.

Tom narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Dumbledore had never liked him from the very first day Dumbledore had met him in the orphanage to introduce him to the Wizarding World. His suspicion had not faded in _six years_ why was he glad to offer information _now?_

'Aidan, I am afraid I may have put you in grave danger by making you the Dumbledore Heir,' Dumbledore looked saddened.

'What do you mean? Why would making Aidan you heir be dangerous for Aidan?' Tom asked, cutting through Dumbledore's next words.

'There have been … rumours that Grindelward holds a grudge against me for a past grievance. He believes that it will hurt me deeply to destroy all I hold dear. He is correct in that assumption, and the assumption that you and I are close. We may not be as close as he seems to believe but he will come after you nonetheless. I am sorry Aidan, I never expected this.'

'Don't worry, No one could have foreseen something like this,' Aidan said, suddenly looking older than he was to the other occupants of the classroom. He looked like he understood more than he was letting on. Dumbledore's eyes narrowed, Aidan should not have lived through a war but it seemed he had. Tom assumed it was because of Aidan's parents' deaths and going into hiding. It was close to the truth.

'Mister Riddle, I request just this one thing of you. Look out for Aidan, please,' Dumbledore's light blue eyes locked on Tom's own darker orbs pleadingly. Tom nodded without second thought, he would have looked out for Aidan anyway as would the rest of the Court if they knew.

'Could we pass on this information to the rest of our friends?' Tom asked thoughtfully.

Dumbledore nodded in relief, 'You may but keep the information among yourselves. We do not want Gellert to know how much we know.'

Tom nodded and swept out the classroom with Aidan in tow, slightly surprised at his ability to pull Aidan out of the classroom. Aidan's mind was obviously mulling over the problem, thinking up and casting away ideas at the blink of the eye. The boy was truly brilliant but this situation worried Tom slightly. How could they predict Grindelward's moves? There were students in Slytherin House whose parents were part of Grindelward's men, that were planning on joining him after they left school. How could they counteract that? The only way to gain Slytherin House loyalty was to show traits of Slytherin himself, the only well known one was Parseltongue. It was close to impossible for Aidan to be able to speak parseltongue, the Gaunts were the last of the Slytherin line. Tom was jolted from his train of thought when he found himself unable to pull Aidan along anymore. He turned around to face him.

Aidan looked amused. 'Are you quite done dragging me around Hogwarts?'

'What are you talking about?'

'We passed the Transfiguration classroom twice. What were you thinking about?'

'I don't know how you can be so calm about the Dark Lord hunting after you,' Tom said shaking his head. 'I was thinking about your unique situation. There are future Grindelward followers within Slytherin; the only way to keep their silence would be to show that you have an ability of Slytherin's. Cunning is what everyone in the house has. The only possibility is parseltongue, and that's impossible.'

'No it's not,' Aidan said softly but firmly, green eyes on Tom's still form. Tom's eyes widened slightly when the meaning of the words caught up to him a few seconds later.

'That would mean-'

'Yes, Tom. I'm a paresltongue, catch up would you. You're usually quicker than this,' Aidan remarked drily.

'Why didn't you tell anyone?' Tom breathed in excitement.

'What exactly was I supposed to say? Oh hi, I'm Aidan Morin and I'm a parseltongue,' Aidan said sarcastically. 'Gosh, would you use those brains of yours? Wake up!' Aidan hissed, suddenly annoyed. He turned on heel and stalked off, leaving Tom staring after him in the middle of the corridor in shock.

What luck, Aidan thought, straight from one Dark Lord after my blood and right to another. The only difference was the fact that he knew Grindelward would be defeated by Dumbledore either this year or next year. Only two years, unlike the Dark Lord of Aidan's time. Merlin knew how long he would be staying for. Aidan sighed, he regretted snapping at Tom. It wasn't really Tom's fault. He was annoyed at himself, he was unable to fade into obscurity even in a time he technically did not exist in. All hopes of ever being normal were futile.

Aidan walked three times up and down outside the place he knew as the entrance to the Room of Requirement. He wanted to look for Tom but in his current mood it would not be a good idea. He has only ever felt like this once before, after hearing the prophecy in Dumbledore's office. He would probably make it worse whenever he was in this kind of mood, he always made things worse. He needed to do something. Hogwarts seemed to read his mind, it was the same room he had used while training the DA. The charmed opponent was also there, although the thing looked more like it could fight back with two legs rather than the wheels. The doors closed gently behind him as he took a few more steps into the room.

Aidan dropped his bag near the door and shrugged out of his cloak. Might as well do something constructive with the anger, he thought as he bowed to the figure. As long as he didn't get too hurt and the room had a couple of healing potions, the training dummy bowed back. A clinking of glass bottles alerted Aidan of the fact that the room had conceded to his wishes. Aidan cast the first spell.

It was like fighting the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries again, except this time there was no one to protect and no back up. Many cuts and bruises later and the training doll was smashed into bits, Aidan was breathing hard. It had been a while since he had dueled like that. A clapping sound alerted Aidan to the fact that he had an audience.

He whirled around before smiling slightly, 'Professor Abbot.'

Leaning against the door casually was the lean form of the Dueling Professor. His hazel eyes looked impressed; his brown hair was tied up at the base of his neck. His arms were folded casually in front of him. 'It is rare to find one as adept in dueling as you are.'

'Thank you, professor.' Aidan cast a refreshing charm on himself and grabbed his bag and cloak.

'With that skill, why did you not choose Duelling as one of your electives,' Professor Abbot asked, following Aidan out of the room which quickly disappeared once more.

'I did not want to overload myself. I needed some time to get used to the new scenery and settle myself into the new environment, but thank you,' Aidan said firmly with a quick smile at the professor.

'Mister Morin, I doubt you would be pushing yourself that much if you took Duelling as another elective. You would fly by,' Professor Abbot said convincingly.

Aidan laughed. 'Fine, I'll _think_ about it. I'm not going to promise anything.'

'Good enough. I can't say I didn't try. Hope to see you in my class, Mister Morin,' the professor said as they split; Aidan once more heading towards the library while the professor turned around to walk back the way they had come from.

No one from the Court took Duelling. They had either been taught it at home by their parents of deemed it unnecessary. Aidan would need to know what he was getting himself into _if_ he did take Dueling as an extra elective this late.

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**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story so far. You guys rock.**

**Pleine Lune: Thank you**

**rentamiya: Thank you for your faith and willingness to hunt me down if necessary :D**

**Amaranth (Guest): Whoops. You're the only person to notice that, strangely enough. I am currently figuring out a way to fix that. Thank you.**

**Kathrin J Pearl: Thank you. I plan on it :D**


	13. Chapter 12

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue.**

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**_Chapter 12_**

Aidan was interrupted from his work by Madame Davis. 'Mister Morin, it is almost time for curfew. The library is closing now.'

Aidan looked up surprised. He had intended to go down to the Great Hall for supper to apologize to Tom. He had even half expected to meet Tom in the library but apparently he had been incorrect in that assumption. Aidan sighed, he needed to apologize to Tom for snapping at him. Aidan was willing to try but did not get his hopes up, not knowing Tom for as long as the others meant Aidan only had Voldemort as a gauge for Tom's reactions. He would like to think Tom was different from Voldemort, there certainly was proof of it.

On his way to the Slytherin Common Room, Aidan took a detour to Headmaster Dippet's office to tell him of his choice to add Dueling to his timetable. The Headmaster was thrilled Aidan was taking an interest in other subjects in Hogwarts. Professor Abbot would be thrilled too. Aidan had decided that he needed to maintain the quick reflexes and perhaps increase his spell repertoire for the possibility of coming up against Grindelward's men.

Dueling, as Aidan had found out, had very little theory which only consisted of environments in which to use the different spells taught. The lessons concentrated solely on being able to cast and control the various spells. Aidan doubted the class had done an extremely large amount that he could not catch up quickly, after all Defense had always been his favourite subject. Dippet had given Aidan a slip. as they had finished finalizing his timetable a little after curfew had started, on the chance that he may be caught by a patrolling prefect. He was, in fact, caught by a Prefect on his journey to the common room.

'Morin is it?' A voice called from down the corridor. It was one of the Gryffindor Prefects of their year.

'Yes, that's me,' Aidan said with a sigh, waiting for the Gryffindor to come closer.

'Why are you wondering the castle after curfew?'

'I went to see Headmaster Dippet,' Aidan explained and handed over the note that the Headmaster had written not too long ago. The boy's eyes scanned the note before passing it back.

'So you're joining the Dueling class, huh?' he said conversationally. 'I'm in that class too. I guess I'll be seeing you again soon.' The Gryffindor grinned at Aidan cheerfully and began walking down the corridor once again. 'See you in class,' he called as he turned the corner.

Aidan couldn't help but smile at the retreating Gryffindor's back. The boy reminded him of Neville somehow, although perhaps a more outgoing version of Neville, Aidan conceded slightly. It would certainly be different from his usual lessons.

Aidan met Tom as Tom was returning from his rounds. Tom ignored Aidan's apologies and walked straight through the Common Room and into the corridor where the dorms branched off from. Aidan turned to Abraxas but Abraxas sent him a cool look and followed Tom to their dorm room. Aidan sighed deeply as he sat down on one of the armchairs that remained within the room's shadows. It was one of the few chairs in the Common Room that the fire's heat did not touch.

'Aidan,' came a soft whisper from his right. Rachel was carefully perched on the arm of the armchair he was sitting on. Aidan lifted tired green eyes to look at her. 'Don't worry, Tom is just angry. He is not thinking clearly, he will after he cools off.'

Aidan sent her a small, grateful smile. 'Thank you.' Rachel nodded and slipped off down the corridor towards the female dorms. Aidan sighed and put his head in his hands. He knew he had to reveal his parseltongue ability somehow, he had been hoping that Tom would help brainstorm ideas with him. That was not going to be possible now that Tom was giving him the silent treatment.

It was late when Aidan finally stood to go to his dorm; the fire was mere ambers in the fireplace. He was the last person in the Common Room and he felt that it would not be the last time it was so. All the other boys were asleep - or at least acting like they were sleeping when Aidan entered his dorm room. He changed quickly and slid into bed quietly. He cast a few silencing charms around his bed, just in case the nightmares would visit him again that night.

It was a lucky thing he did. That night he dreamt of the Third Task and the graveyard that followed the task. He saw Cedric's body being hit by the deadly green light again, blank eyes staring at the world. He saw Wormtail cut off his hand and the monstrosity that was Voldemort rise once more from the cauldron. He bolted up in his bed, gasping loudly with beads of cold sweat trailing down his spine. The dreams had been occurring more and more often lately. After not being bothered by them for months, they had renewed their attack on his conscious with ferocity. Aidan had learnt his lesson after the first time he had cried out. His dorm mates had soon forgotten about his nightmares and had said nothing about them afterwards, probably dismissing it as a dream. Something Aidan had wholeheartedly encouraged.

Aidan cast a quick tempus. It was just past three in the morning. Aidan sighed, that ended any hopes he had held for a good night's sleep. He cast a silencing charm on the bathroom before he walked in to get ready for the day ahead, not wanting to wake anyone else up. He waited until half past five, a time he knew the house elves had woken up by, before leaving the warm Common Room to go to the equally warm, if not warmer, kitchens. No one else would be up at such an ungodly hour and curfew lasted until four in the morning.

Aidan tickled the pear on the portrait and was greeted by a rush of warm air on his face. The air smelled of the food that the elves were currently baking and preparing for breakfast which would start in close to an hour.

'Master Aidan, sir. We's not having the food readys yet,' one of the house elves squeaked in panic. 'We's not knowing you's be up so early today.' The house elf's ears dropped slightly.

'Don't worry about it,' Aidan said reassuringly. 'It's warmer in here than in my Common Room. You can take your time.' The house elves noticeably perked up at Aidan's words. They began working once more, a bit quicker than they were before. In twenty minutes, the house elves had a plate of food in front of Aidan. He happily tucked in and gave his compliments for the food to the house elves, who beamed with pleasure.

The rest of the Sixth Year Slytherin dorm woke at six to be ready for breakfast at seven. They noticed Aidan's perfectly made bed. It looked like it had not been touched; if they had not heard Aidan enter late last night they would have believed Aidan had not entered the dorm room. Tom felt slightly bad at the sight of the empty bed but brushed it aside, certain he was not the one at fault and Aidan was.

During lessons, Aidan was sitting alone at the table once again. It was like Fourth Year again, except that time he had at least one person after Hermione had chosen Ron over him. Not that that was unexpected, but that year he had Neville at least which was something compared to now. Dumbledore asked Aidan to remain behind again that day.

'I hear you joined the Dueling classes,' Dumbledore said. Aidan nodded, relieved that Dumbledore had not brought up his lack of company during the lesson. 'It is a good idea to help protect yourself against Grindelward. What did you do to Professor Abbot? He was singing you praises in the staff room yesterday.'

'He may have seen me blow off some steam yesterday,' Aidan said, slightly embarrassed. Dumbledore laughed genially.

'It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I have a proposal for you. Since I was the one to drag you into this messy war, I want to be of some help as well. Although I do not know exactly how much help I can be if Professor Abbot had not exaggerated too much, but I am willing to train you for the possibility of Grindelward trying to capture you,' Dumbledore said seriously.

'When?' Aidan asked. He knew he would need the training either way. He needed to be prepared for anything that was thrown at him.

'In the time between the last lesson and dinner, with enough time for you to freshen up if you wish before supper,' Dumbledore's blue gaze searched Aidan's own green ones. He found what he was searching for apparently for he said, 'Very well. We begin tomorrow.' Aidan nodded and left the Transfiguration classroom, that man was always full of surprises.

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**Thank you to everyone who favourited and followed this story.**

**Pleine Lune: I usually tell the jokes (or puns) which I later have to explain. It's not fun being on the explaining side. Your thunder gets stolen.**

**NightStalkersRevenge: Oh … the Chamber … maybe. I kinda forgot about the Chamber actually. I'll think on it.**

**WishingWanderer: Good news. Term ends on Friday :D**

**Jim Red Hawk: I have an Ipod and half the time I try to press one letter and end up pressing another and I don't notice it. I guess that for me, sometimes I have cold fingers and the screen doesn't react or my finger hits the wrong letter or link. I try to avoid typing with a touch screen as much as possible … I don't think I explained that all too well …**

**rentamiya: Like I said above. One week holiday starting on Friday :D**


	14. Chapter 13

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

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**_Chapter 13_**

Dueling took up some of the lessons Aidan usually had free and spent in the library. It was the last lesson today. Aidan only regretted slightly the loss of his research time but believed it would be worth it in the long run. Besides, it was also a lesson where he could meet people out of the influence of the Court as all the people he had met were since he had befriended the Court.

Professor Abbot's face lit up when Aidan walked into the Dueling classroom. The classroom was separated into two parts: the larger section looked like a small dueling arena. It looked like it could fit many duelists at the same time. The other, smaller section looked like a normal classroom, albeit a bit smaller. Professor Abbot walked towards Aidan with a large smile.

'Mister Morin! I could not believe my ears when Headmaster Dippet told me you were joining my class!' the professor exclaimed.

'I guess you convinced me,' Aidan shrugged.

'I'm extremely glad I managed to. Anyway, you are the only Slytherin taking this class. I guess they all feel it unnecessary,' Professor Abbot said a bit sadly. 'It's a waste of talent I tell you. Most, if not all, are brilliant duelers in their own right.'

The rest of the class entered slowly in groups of twos and threes as the two talked, they stopped for a second or two at seeing Aidan and the professor talk but quickly moved on. When it looked like most of the class was seated, Professor Abbot moved to the front of the class and Aidan found an empty table near the back of the classroom section of the room. Just as Professor Abbot opened his mouth to begin talking, the doors slammed open. Everyone turned around to look at the person who had interrupted the professor.

'Sorry I'm late, professor. I was helping someone that had got themselves trapped in the trick stair.'

It was the Gryffindor Prefect from last night. He was breathing heavily like he had run the whole way to class, he probably had Aidan reflected thoughtfully. The Gryffindor sat in the nearest chair, which happened to be the one next to Aidan. The professor started his lecture.

'Hi, I'm Sebastian Longbottom,' the Gryffindor introduced himself. It was no wonder he had reminded Aidan of Neville, Aidan thought. He attempted to introduce himself as well but Sebastian only laughed softly. 'Oh I know who you are, you are the mystery Slytherin Sixth Year. No one knows anything about you except for your name.' Aidan sighed, there went the "keep-a-low-profile" plan in a cloud of smoke but Sebastian was still talking.

'Every year we receive a project to create a spell and get a theme to work around, if you can call it that. That is what Professor Abbot is explaining during this lesson. This year we have to create a spell to protect an object or person. Would you like to partner with me?' Sebastian looked hopeful but Aidan was slightly reluctant. 'I could help you go over everything we have done so far with you if you want,' Sebastian said enticingly as he say Aidan's reluctant look.

At the end of the lesson, the two approached Professor Abbot. 'Professor, I've offered to partner with and go through the entire syllabus with Aidan until he catches up, between working on the project,' Sebastian said promptly.

Professor Abbot smiled. 'That is a very good idea. Our top student paired with Mister Morin. You will keep each other on your toes,' Abbot said cheerfully. Sebastian smiled and the two students left the room.

'Library?' Sebastian asked. Aidan nodded in assent, he was headed there anyway. They seated themselves at the nearest available table, not knowing if they would get a table further in the library. The one they had chosen was the table closest to the door. They found that there were only a few spells that Aidan was unfamiliar with but they were easy enough to master after a couple of tries.

A shadow fell over Aidan and Sebastian as they talked. Sebastian looked up and stiffened slightly at the person he saw. Sebastian's face became the emotionless mask the purebloods seem to master so well. 'Riddle.'

Aidan whipped around and saw that it was indeed Tom that stood behind him. Aidan felt a tinge of surprise, Tom had been ignoring him. What was he doing here?

'Longbottom,' Tom greeted back coolly before turning to Aidan. 'Aidan! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!'

Annoyance crept up on Aidan. How could Tom ignore him for an entire day then suddenly expect him to be on his beck and call when he felt like it? That was something Aidan would not stand for.

'Why do you care Riddle?' Aidan shot back, trying to keep his voice level, but annoyance had crept into his voice. Tom looked taken aback by the question.

'What do you-'

'You know what? Forget it,' Aidan said standing. 'Find me when you've decided what you want. I'm not some ping-pong ball to be treated depending on your mood.' Aidan hissed, his green eyes flashing in his anger. 'Thank you Sebastian, for your help. I'll see you tomorrow.' Aidan left the library and disappeared down the corridor.

'Wow,' Sebastian said, eyes following Aidan's form until he was no longer visible. 'You really have messed up this time haven't you Riddle?' Sebastian mocked.

Tom glared at Sebastian but his glare quickly mellowed out at the truth of the Gryffindor's words. Tom sighed, 'I did, and I don't know how to fix it. Aidan can hold grudges better than many of the Slytherins.'

'He is a Slytherin,' Sebastian said drily, glancing at Tom. 'And from the rumours of why he is at Hogwarts, it seems he has nothing to lose. He lost everything he had and left the rest behind. This may sound Gryffindorish to you, but maybe Aidan is looking for people he can call family and not just friends.' Sebastian stood and walked out the library, leaving a very thoughtful Tom behind.

The Gryffindor was more perceptive than Tom had originally thought. What Longbottom had said was actually a very possible reason why Aidan had reacted as he did. Tom knew that feeling of wanting family from his years in the orphanage. Maybe the Court could become Aidan's family as it was Tom's.

Tom was still uncertain about the reason he had acted the way he had when he saw Aidan and Longbottom talking to easily, usually he would just ignore it and pass. This time it seemed he was unable to do that. It frustrated him to be as uncertain as he was about Aidan. He felt guilty when Aidan was angry with him, he felt lonely when Aidan was not there, he wanted to smile when Aidan laughed and he enjoyed Aidan's company more than anyone else's company. What was going on?

Making up his mind, Tom stood to go find Aidan. He had no clue where the other Slytherin would be, Hogwarts was enormous. It would take far too long to search the entire castle. Tom was wondering aimlessly as he thought of a way to find Aidan, trying to figure out where Aidan would go.

He wondered along the corridors until he felt that strange tug in his magic that he had felt earlier which had led him to the library … and to Aidan. Hoping he had come to the right conclusion, Tom followed the tugging until he faced the girls' bathroom that housed the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

Tom wondered for a few seconds how Aidan had found the Chamber as quickly as he had but cast the thought aside for later questioning. He disillusioned himself, cast a notice-me-not charm on the bathroom door and opened the entrance to the Chamber. Tom slid down the pipe and hoped that the cushioning charm he had placed at the bottom was still functioning.

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**Thank you to everyone who favourited and followed this story.**

**Tango Dancer: I can't take credit for the idea of The Court that was part of the chapter Somewhere's Sword wrote. I did make a few adjustments to it but it's mostly Somewhere's Sword's idea. Aidan is being particularly stubborn about forgiving Tom. This is his last chance before something drastic happens, something I really don't want to do.**

**EverydayMagic17: I thought so too.**

**rentamiya: I finally have a plan to reveal Aidan's parseltongue ability but that's only next chapter or possibly the one after that if Dumbledore does not talk too much.**


	15. Chapter 14

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue. Tale of the Three Brothers is JK Rowling's too.**

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**_Chapter 14_**

Walking through the Chamber, Aidan wondered why he had chosen to come to the Chamber and not go to the Room of Requirement. The Room of Requirement _had_ been closer but Aidan doubted Tom knew of its existence anyway, not that he had expected Tom to come after him.

When Aidan had come through the pipe that served as an entrance to the Chamber, he had been surprised at the cushioning charm that had softened his landing and the fact that the Chamber looked like it had been cleaned out. There was a bit of dust every now and again but it was a lot cleaner than it had been back in Second Year. Aidan noticed the runes on the wall. Upon closer look, the runes were warding runes to stop people that could not speak parseltongue through as well as other protection runes. Aidan realized that even if Lockhart had not made part of the entrance collapse neither him nor Ron would have been able to pass through and into the Chamber anyway.

Walking through the Chamber brought back the memories of what occurred during the later part of Second Year as well. In his mind's eye Aidan saw Ginny's prone body, he saw Tom's form mocking him, he saw the basilisk entering the Chamber and attacking him. He remembered the Sorting Hat giving him the Sword of Gryffindor and Fawkes scratching the basilisk's eyes until it could no longer see, he remembered killing the basilisk and being poisoned by its venom in the process. Absently he rubbed the scar that he had received from that particular occasion.

The echo of quick footsteps alerted Aidan to the fact that he was no longer alone within the Chamber. It surprised Aidan slightly that Tom had actually come. The boy was confusing. Aidan turned around as the footsteps drew nearer.

'Aidan.'

'Tom.'

They stared at each other in silence for a few minutes.

'Aidan, I'm-'

'Do you mean it?' Aidan cut Tom off in the middle of his apology.

Tom did not hesitate when he answered Aidan. 'Yes. I'm sorry about what I did yesterday. It was only expected for you to react like you did when you found out Grindelward was possibly after you, if wasn't your fault. You were shocked. You shouldn't have needed to apologize and I shouldn't have ignored you for the entire day. Will you forgive me for my mistake?'

Tom was honestly terrified that Aidan would not accept his apology and would ignore him like he himself had done for the last day. He did not want to lose the friendship he had formed with the other Slytherin and that was what his stupidity could have cost him. Tom's dark gaze locked with Aidan's bright eyes. He could see Aidan assessing him, looking for something, examining his honesty. Tom hoped Aidan had found what he had been searching for when he opened his mouth.

'Apology accepted,' Aidan said so softly Tom almost missed it.

The relief that filled Tom was so strong Tom thought that his legs would give out for a second then Tom sent Aidan a blinding smile. For once Tom acted on instinct, not caring about the possible embarrassment his action could cause him. Two steps forward and Tom was engulfing Aidan in a tight hug, muttering his thanks under his breath just loud enough for Aidan to hear. Aidan yelped a little at the unexpected physical contact before chuckling and returning the embrace.

'As lovely as this is, I am terribly late for something. Hate to keep Professor Dumbledore waiting,' Aidan said after a few minutes, moving out of the hug. Tom scowled.

'He is doing me a favour you know,' Aidan said seeing the ferocious scowl on Tom's face.

'Fine,' was all he got in reply as he headed out of the Chamber, Tom close at his heels. They levitated themselves up the pipe and landed firmly in the bathroom. Tom removed the spells he had placed on the bathroom and Aidan took off in the direction of the Transfiguration classroom. Tom shook his head before following Aidan at a slower pace. He reached the classroom as Dumbledore had begun teaching Aidan. Tom entered the classroom.

Dumbledore looked up as Tom walked in, his eyes twinkled. 'I see we have a guest.'

'Oh yeah, you wouldn't mind if Tom joins us would you?' Aidan asked pleadingly.

'As if I could stop him,' Dumbledore chuckled. 'Mister Riddle would find a way to watch you even if I said no. It would be better for me to just say yes and not waste both my own and Mister Riddle's time.'

'True,' Aidan said seriously as Tom smirked and Dumbledore smiled before continuing with his lesson.

'Grindelward is predictable only because searches to find three magical items that have been lost in time. Are you familiar with the tale of the three brothers?' Dumbledore asked. Both Aidan and Tom shook their heads. 'The tale goes that three brothers come across a perilous river. The three brothers are wizards and easily conjure a bridge to cross the river, everyone else that had attempted to cross the river died in the process. Death met them on the other side of the bridge.'

Here Tom snorted. 'Death met them? Sorry, please continue professor,' Tom said hurriedly at Aidan's look.

'He congratulated the brothers on crossing the river and told them that he would give them one reward each,' Dumbledore continued.

'A trap no doubt,' Tom couldn't help himself.

Dumbledore chuckled. 'A trap it was. The first brother asked Death for an unbeatable wand. Death made a wand from a nearby branch of the Elder tree, the Elder Wand. The second brother asked Death for a way to bring people back from the dead. Death took a stone from the river bank and made a ring that could return people from the dead, the Resurrection Stone. The third brother asked for a way to not be found by Death after they left the river bank. It was said that Death handed over his own invisibility cloak to the last brother. Not long afterwards, the brothers parted ways. The first brother boasted about his unbeatable wand and was killed for his troubles. The second brother tried to call back the woman he loved and went insane. He took his own life. Death searched for the last brother for years but could not find him. Finally, at a ripe of age, the last brother gave his invisibility cloak to his only son and greeted Death like an old friend. The person who finds all three items is said to become the Master of Death.'

'So Grindelward wants to become the Master of Death? But what would that do? Would it give him extra power? Would it prevent him from dying?' Aidan asked confused.

'No one has ever collected all three artifacts and owned them all at the same time,' Dumbledore answered. 'There is no way to know what could truly happen if Grindelward collected all the artifacts.'

'So Grindelward is chasing after something that may not even do anything? How do we know that the artifacts were even created?' Tom asked dubiously.

'Throughout history, we see signs of the Elder Wand's bloody history as it passed from hand to hand. Lost at times before it reemerges under a different name,' Dumbledore said. 'As for the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak, they could be anywhere, passed down from one family member to another without anyone knowing the true potential of them. The three brothers are the Peverell brothers, who have the sign of the Deathly Hallows on their gravestones. The circle within the upright triangle with the vertical line running though the triangle and circle from apex to base.'

'How would you recognize the stone or the cloak if you ever did find it?' Aidan asked quietly.

'They are only rumours but the sign of the Deathly Hallows are said to be on them. Besides, who wouldn't notice an invisibility cloak that never loses its invisibility.'

Aidan looked up startled. He had believed all invisibility cloaks were permanent. Didn't Dumbledore say in the note he had received with the invisibility cloak that it had been his father's cloak before his? The cloak currently at the bottom of his trunk had shown no sign of its true age and had never let him down in all his years of using it. Was it possible that he had the legendary Invisibility Cloak in his possession all these years?

Tom vaguely recognized the sign Dumbledore had described somewhere. He wasn't entirely sure exactly when he had seen it but it had been sometime last year. He didn't give the feeling much thought, it was useless anyway. It didn't _do_ anything.

'Well, look at the time!' Dumbledore exclaimed in surprise. 'You have fifteen minutes until the start of supper. We can continue this lesson tomorrow there's not enough time to do anything else. Make sure you wear something practical Mister Morin.'

Aidan nodded. 'Thank you professor,' he said as he headed out the door.

'And do remember to be on time,' Dumbledore called after him.

'I will,' Aidan said shutting the door behind him.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who favourited and followed this story!**

**eun-nao: Thank you :D**

**NightStalkersRevenge: Thank you :D**

**rentamiya: He is really unique. I just didn't like it in cannon when he suppressed his parseltongue ability because everyone else thought it was evil. Seriously? Talking to animals is evil? Anyway, like I said, Dumbledore talked too much … so did Aidan and Tom …**

**ValeryaPotter: Thank you. Will do every day until next Sunday, unless something comes up where I am unable to :D**


	16. Chapter 15

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue. Nagini is not mine either. *sigh***

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**_Chapter 15_**

Tom was a little more cautious in his behavior towards Aidan after that. He made sure not to ignore Aidan nor get angry at him. The treatment was nice at first but it had soon begun to annoy Aidan. It was as if Tom thought he needed to agree with everything Aidan said even if he disagreed with Aidan's opinion.

It was half way through lunch that Aidan had finally had enough. 'What the hell is up with you?' he hissed across the table.

'What do you mean?' Tom looked confused.

'You never agree to everything I say! You've agreed with me _once_ ever since we became friends and now you are agreeing with _everything_ I say!'

Tom nodded slowly, still not understanding what Aidan was trying to say. 'Yeah, so?'

Aidan attempted to stop himself from banging his head on the table. His head hit the table with a low thud. 'You don't have to agree with everything I say. Hell, you don't even have to agree with anything I say.'

'But-' Tom was cut off by a yelp as he was hit by the stinging hex Aidan had sent his way. He dodged the next one by ducking under the table and cast a shield charm to block the third and fourth before Aidan stopped. 'What was that for?' Tom said indignantly.

'That was for you being stupid,' Aidan replied putting away his wand. 'If I wanted someone that agreed with everything I said, I would have befriended someone else.'

'So you _want_ me to argue with you?'

'Would you agree and do everything anyone else asked you to without question? No you wouldn't, then why would you think I would want you to? A true friend does not need you to change who you are,' Aidan said firmly. 'Understand?'

Tom nodded his head. 'How did you meet Longbottom?'

'He found me after curfew while I was walking back to the Common Room from the Headmaster's office,' Aidan shrugged. 'And we paired up for our project after Sebastian told Professor Abbot he would go through the entire syllabus and help me catch up on what I don't know.'

Aidan watched as Tom took in the new information and gave it some thought before his eyes widened. 'You're taking Dueling?' Tom burst out, earning them a glare from the librarian. 'So that's where you were during your free lesson this morning. Why didn't you tell me?'

'Well that would have been rather difficult as you weren't inclined to listen to what I said,' Aidan said drily.

'Oh, right,' Tom said sheepishly. 'So you have to spend more time with Longbottom?'

'What's up between you and Sebastian anyway? You seem to hate each other, why?' Aidan asked curious.

'Oh that. It's nothing important, it happened a while back,' Tom said evasively. Aidan let his head drop onto the table softer than before but a thud could still be heard.

'Impossible. You're impossible!' Aidan muttered. Tom hummed under his breath as he cracked open one of his recently borrowed tomes.

'I won't be coming with you for Dumbledore's lesson today. I have to prepare something,' Tom said after a few minutes of silence.

Aidan only hummed in acceptance, not bothering to waste his time in questioning the other Slytherin further when he obviously did not feel like giving up a lot of information.

When the time for Aidan's lesson arrived, the two parted ways. Dumbledore's lesson lasted an hour and a half. It was a practical lesson. Dumbledore taught Aidan the spell, waited until he got it right at least once before expecting him to use and cast it properly in an impromptu duel that thankfully only lasted a couple of minutes at a time.

It was exhausting as Dumbledore was in his prime and used to casting spells simultaneously on a daily basis. Aidan on the other hand, was not as used to the excessive use of magic in a longer time frame as the lessons were never two practical lessons one after the other. When the lesson finally came to a close, Aidan was breathing heavily with perspiration coating his body.

'Well, that went better than expected,' Dumbledore said brightly. Aidan sent him and incredulous look. 'Well, you lasted a lot longer than I had expected you to and much longer than any of the Purebloods at Hogwarts. Give yourself a month or two and we can increase the duration of your lessons.' Dumbledore smoothed his cloak, the only indication of his previous activity. Aidan gaped at Dumbledore as the latter swept out the room. Aidan cast a freshening charm on himself and headed towards dinner.

Dinner passed uneventfully with the exception of Aidan's burning muscles and his occasional yawn, which didn't quite pass as unnoticed as he would have liked. Idle chats passed among the Slytherin students. No one was in a particularly chatty mood that evening. When dinner ended after what seemed like an extremely long time to Aidan who wanted to do nothing but curl up on his bed and sleep.

When they reached the Common Room, it was to a rather strange sight. All the younger Slytherin students were up against the wall, wide-eyed and terrified. Aidan followed their gazes to see a green animal slither under one of the armchairs after hearing one of the girls scream. Aidan shot a look at Tom, noticing that he did not look at all surprised at finding a snake in the Common Room. It didn't happen often if the reactions of the Slytherins were anything to go by.

Tom nudged Aidan forward as someone called Tom to tell the snake to leave the Common Room. Aidan realized what Tom had been doing while he had been training.

'You planned this, didn't you,' Aidan said.

It was more a statement than a question but Tom answered anyway, 'You said you needed a way to let the house know without being too obvious. Here's your chance.' Tom confirmed Aidan's suspicions. Aidan sighed and went up to the black armchair he had seen the snake retreat under and leant down.

_Come out. You will not be harmed,_ Aidan hissed to the snake, ignoring the gasps from the Slytherins in the Common Room.

_Another Speaker? The other one told me about you but I did not believe him,_ the snake hissed, slowly coming out from beneath the armchair.

_Do you want me to take you back outside?_ Aidan asked the snake, silently glaring at Tom who quickly looked away.

_I would prefer to remain here. It is warmer than outside,_ the snake hissed hopefully.

_Do you promise not to bite anyone?_ Aidan asked. The snake made an agreeing sound. 'Would anyone mind if the snake remains here for a while? She had promised not to bite anyone,' Aidan said reverting back into English.

There were reluctant nods from the majority of the house. Tom had the feeling that his idea would backfire on him somehow. That always happened when Aidan was involved in his plans unknowingly.

The snake was a green so dark it almost looked black. It was longer than Aidan's hand but Aidan somehow got the impression that the snake was still very young and would grow much longer. The snake felt familiar, like they had met before.

_What is your name?_ Aidan asked, a feeling of trepidation filled him.

The snake seemed to think for a little while. _Nagini is what my mother called me when I was a hatchling._

Aidan gulped. No wonder the snake had felt familiar. She was always close to Voldemort. He had come in direct contact with her in Fourth Year and had been in her mind at the end of Fifth Year. The snake would grow to be enormous.

_I'm Aidan. The other speaker's name is Tom,_ Aidan continued on nonetheless, pushing away the memories of what was yet to be. Nagini merely settles around Aidan's arm and went to sleep, reveling in his body heat.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story. XD**

**eun-nao: :D**

**rentamiya: Snakes ****_are_**** cool. I am in total agreement with you :D**

**Tatieyana: Thank you**


	17. Chapter 16

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 16_**

The next time Tom and Sebastian met was two weeks later in the middle of the corridor. Aidan hadn't been with them to prevent them from fighting and so the tossed curses and jinxes at each other between their words.

'Aidan! Aidan!' Rachel came sprinting towards where Aidan was staring at the fire in the Common Room. Dorea was close at her heels. 'Tom and Longbottom … they're fighting … outside Hall … quick!' She panted.

Aidan stood fluidly and began moving, hoping the two didn't manage to kill each other. Dorea followed Aidan, obviously a little more fit than Rachel but she still couldn't keep up with Aidan's speed. The rest of the Court looked up in relief as the crowds parted to make way for Aidan. Colourful spells were flying at a rapid pace.

Aidan cast the strongest shield charm he knew between the two. 'Stop it, both of you!' he bellowed in fury as he stood between the two when the shield charm began to crack. The spells ceased. Tom hastily put his wand down at Aidan's expression.

Sebastian, seeing his chance at catching Tom unguarded, sent a cutting hex his way. It would have hit Tom had Aidan not turned to face him as the light from the spell caught his attention. Acting on instinct, Aidan cast a shield charm but was a fraction of a second too slow. The hex cut through Aidan's robes easily, giving him a shallow cut. Blood began soaking Aidan's white shirt. Gasps issued around them as Sebastian's eyes widened at what he had done.

Aidan's eyes sparked furiously and his fists clenched in an attempt to control his anger. His magic seemed to lie just below the surface of his skin, pulsing in time to his heartbeat.

'What exactly did I tell you?' Aidan's voice was cold with barely suppressed fury. He barely seemed to acknowledge the blood that was steadily soaking his robes, something that concerned most of the watching students. Sebastian took a step back in fear. His mouth seemed to have dried up.

Tom looked at Aidan in wonder. He had never realized how much magic Aidan held in his body until faced with it. He had always thought that Aidan was powerful but never _how_ powerful he truly was. Aidan never showed off despite the fact that he could and back up the claims.

'What is going on here?'

The students moved to create a path for the Headmaster who looked from Tom to Aidan to Sebastian and finally seeing the blood on Aidan's robes.

'What happened?' Headmaster Dippet asked Aidan, who seemed to be in the middle of the entire mess.

'Ask them,' Aidan growled before stalking off. The students parted before him easily, not wanting to be the object of his wrath. They stared at him as he passed them. Poppy and Minerva followed Aidan at a distance, Poppy itching to heal the cut that still lay open on Aidan's chest before he lost too much blood.

Once Poppy deemed Aidan had cooled down enough, she approached him to Minerva's protests. 'Aidan, you have to go to the infirmary, you've lost too much blood already,' Poppy said, catching Aidan's elbow.

Aidan turned to look at her and she flinched slightly but knew Aidan would not harm her. Aidan sighed at seeing Poppy's flinch. 'I'm sorry Poppy. You're probably right, I should go to the infirmary.'

They changed direction. 'So what started the fight?'

'I'm not entirely sure when we got there they were already trading curses and shouting threats at each other,' Minerva answered as she sped up to walk next to the other two. 'All anyone figured out was they were arguing over you.'

'Why would they argue over me?' Aidan asked looking very confused.

Minerva looked shocked then shook her head in exasperation. 'That's not for me to tell. Tom will have to tell you in his own time, but I thought you knew! Boys!' She shook her head once more.

The Healer clucked her tongue in displeasure when Aidan entered the Infirmary. 'What do you boys get up to these days? Throwing around cutting hexes in the corridors,' she said motioning Aidan to one of the beds.

'It wasn't Aidan's fault, Healer Davis,' Poppy told the healer. 'He was trying to stop the fight and got caught in the cross fire.'

'Have you not heard of a wonderful charm called the shield charm?' was her only reply. Aidan shrugged at Poppy, knowing it would be of no use trying to convince the healer that it was not entirely Aidan's fault. Aidan was growing weaker with the steady loss of blood in his chest and needed a little help from Minerva and Poppy to get on the bed. He had been trying to ignore it while he had been walking.

'Be grateful the wound is only a shallow one or you would have died from blood loss minutes ago, forget even being awake,' the Healer fussed around Aidan, scolding him all the while as he tried to stay conscious. 'Here take these.'

Two very familiar potions were shoved under his nose. Without a second thought, he gulped both potions down and surrendered to the darkness on the edges of his vision.

Aidan woke hours later to the sound of talking around his bed. They were whispering in an effort to be quiet under what must have been a rather watchful healer. Aidan opened his eyes slowly to adjust to the sunlight that filled the room. Aidan guessed it was lunch, which would explain why the Court in its entirety were currently crowding around his bed. They hadn't noticed him waking yet.

'What do you think it is?' Olivia asked, eying the object at the foot of Aidan's bed suspiciously.

'It can't be dangerous if Dumbledore brought it here, I mean Aidan is practically his family,' Theodore replied thoughtfully.

'Or maybe you can just mind your own business while I find out,' Aidan snarked, smirking at them when they jumped in shock and turned to look at his wearily. Tom passed him the object that was wrapped in brown paper. It had a card over it that Aidan opened first.

_Aidan,_

_When Arianna heard about you being in the infirmary, she insisted she come and visit you. Her portrait, however, cannot be moved. I had a smaller more mobile portrait of her crafted for you to keep so she can move between the two._

_Who am I to resist my sister's pleas?_

_Aberforth_

_P.S. the statis charm will be broken once you open the wrapping._

Aidan smiled. He had been wondering when he would be able to pay a visit to Arianna. She had told him to come as often as he could and was planning to visit her on the coming Hogsmeade weekend next week. Now he did not have to plan his visits and he could talk to Arianna daily.

'Aidan,' Tom called bringing Aidan's attention onto him. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have fought with Longbottom. It's my fault you got hurt as much as I tried to deny it, it is true. The entire Court agrees, even Nagini does. She's been telling me off the entire morning.' Tom sounded a bit put off by being reprimanded by a snake.

Aidan smiled. 'It's fine, I've had much worse,' he said, thinking back to the times when he fell off his broom during a Quidditch match. 'It was only a cut.'

Aidan was distracted by Nagini who slid down Tom's arm to talk to him so he missed the horrified looks sent his way. The cut had been long and painful looking, but Aidan had easily dismissed it as "just a cut." Anyone else would have been screaming in pain and unable to think let alone walk as he did to the infirmary without help.

They were brought out of their musings by Aidan's laughter and Nagini's amused hissing. They didn't understand what they were saying but Tom did.

_You didn't! _Aidan laughed.

_I did and he still doesn't know about it,_ Nagini said in reply.

Tom had a sinking feeling they were talking about him. He _knew_ the plan with bringing a snake for Aidan to reveal his parseltongue abilities would backfire. He knew it! Why did he not listen to his gut feeling!

The Court looked curiously from Aidan to Nagini to Tom.

Tom groaned.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who favourited and followed this story.**

**eun-nao: When I read your review I had to pause for a second and think, jealousy act … jealousy act … and light bulb moment. Thank you.**


	18. Chapter 17

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 17_**

Aidan was released from the Infirmary the next day due to an excessive amount of pleading on Aidan's part and dozens of promises to make sure Aidan didn't overexert himself on the part of the Court with multiple threats from the healer that she didn't want to see Aidan in the Infirmary again. Aidan breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he was far enough away from the Infirmary.

'Thank Merlin, I'm out of there,' Aidan said, still clutching the unopened package from the day before. He still had not told any of the others what was inside it, waving away the questions and cleverly changing the subject before they noticed anything.

'I take it you don't like Infirmaries much,' Theo said quietly from his side.

'I don't,' Aidan said shaking his head wearily. 'I've ended up in one every year without fail. Usually more than once. I'm actually surprised I've lasted this long without visiting the Infirmary.'

'Accident prone?' Abraxas asked amused.

'Oi! It wasn't usually my fault!' Aidan said indignantly.

'Usually, he says,' Brandon said. 'And who's fault was it?'

Aidan thought quickly, he couldn't exactly tell them what happened while he had been in Hogwarts. Silently he cursed his slip.

'How the hell do you stop a werewolf from attacking you? Or dementors feeding off your memories for that matter?' Aidan asked finally deciding to use what happened in Third Year. It could happen to anyone, right? Nothing specific. The Slytherin's faces blanked while the rest of the Court paled.

'You've faced a werewolf and dementors and lived to tell the tale? Now I believe you when you said you've had worse,' Minerva said shakily, her face still on the pale side.

'No wonder your patronus is as powerful as it is. You had to use it against dememtors didn't you?' Poppy said softly.

'You poor thing,' Dorea said finally, enveloping Aidan in a hug that Rachel soon joined. Aidan yelped and nearly dropped his precious package. Nagini reared up as menacingly as possible from her place just below Aidan's collar. The two quickly backed away and Nagini once again hid herself under Aidan's robes.

'So Aidan, what's in the package,' Olivia asked curiously. Aidan could feel his eye twitch. They had been trying to catch him off guard to make him tell them what was inside since he had read the note yesterday and refused to open the brown wrapping, over 24 hours ago.

'Leave Aidan alone. Can't you see you've annoyed him!' Xeno cried in mock outrage. 'Who knows what he could curse us with!' Aidan exchanged a startled glance with Xeno at his phrasing. Xeno winked back, letting Aidan know he had helped Nagini with her plan. Aidan grinned at Xeno who smirked in return. 'He'll never know what hit him,' Xeno whispered in Aidan's ear when he got close enough. 'Rachel helped me get it in. Theo and Rachel are also in on the plan.' Aidan nodded, his eyes on Tom making sure he saw not aware of their plotting.

'Anything I can help with?' Aidan asked as Theo and Rachel drew the attention away from the Slytherin and Hufflepuff's talk.

'Just get him to wash his hair this week,' Xeno said with a Cheshire grin that matched Aidan's own.

'How did you get Nagini to help?' Aidan asked as none of them could speak parseltongue.

'She kept distracting Tom once she noticed what we were doing. Annoying him greatly no doubt,' Rachel said joining their conversation.

'Yeah, he didn't even realize what was happening. Not even Abraxas realized what we were doing,' Theo added with a smirk.

'You sure you weren't supposed to be in Slytherin?' Xeno asked Theo suspiciously.

'Well the Hat did tell me I would do well in Slytherin but I am better suited for Ravenclaw,' Theo said. 'Besides who would expect a Ravenclaw to prank them?'

'Now I would,' Aidan said with a straight face that soon morphed into one of laughter.

Theo shook his head. 'Only now that I've told you about it.'

'Theo!' a voice called from down the corridor. The four turned to see a chestnut haired girl with hazel eyes race up to them.

'Jessica!' Theo replied when the girl tripped over something and tumbled into Aidan who wobbled slightly but lost his battle with gravity and landed on the floor with the girl on top of him.

'I'm so sorry,' the girl, Jessica, said blushing deeply looking mortified. Her hair slowly turned a deep red. She scrambled up, cheeks still red. She forgot what she had come to tell Theo and ran down the corridor as fast as she could. Aidan turned to raise a brow at Theo who shrugged.

'My sister,' Theo said. 'She's really clumsy because she's a metamorph. I'd swear one day she'll forget what she really looks like she changes so often.'

'I didn't know you had a sister. What year is she in?'

'Fifth,' Theo said. 'She reckons she has a good chance of becoming an auror with her abilities. I think she should learn to be less clumsy first. I wonder what she came to tell me though. She seems to have forgotten to pass the message on in her haste to leave. Oh well, I'll see her in the Common Room.' The group split, heading off to their various Common Rooms and the ones that were made Prefects left to start making their rounds.

It was only Rachel and Aidan that were left to go to their Common Room. They split paths as they entered their separate corridors. There was no one in Aidan's dorm when he entered it. He sat on his bed and quickly unwrapped the brown paper.

Arianna yawned as she was uncovered. Her eyes blearily looked around until she spotted Aidan staring back at her.

'Aidan! I've missed you! You never bothered to come visit me after Hogwarts started!' Arianna complained.

'I know and I'm sorry about that. I was just so busy trying to catch up and everything I tended to forget about the Hogsmeade weekends. I was going to visit you in the one next week though,' Aidan said. He was feeling bad about forgetting about Adrianna. 'Now you can visit me whenever you want.'

Adrianna cheered up instantly. 'That's true. I begged Aberforth for days to get another smaller portrait done so I can visit you more often. So what happened? How did you get hurt?'

'Well there were these two guys, both of them are my friend but they hate each other for a reason I don't know about,' Aidan explained. 'They were fighting outside the Hall. I tried to stop them and one shot a spell at the other but it hit me.'

Aidan didn't like the knowing glint in Adrianna's eyes. Everyone seemed to know what was going on, everyone but Aidan that was. It was starting to annoy Aidan.

'What? Tell me!' Aidan demanded petulantly.

Adrianna only laughed and walked out her portrait. Growling lowly in his throat, Aidan sunk himself into his bed and charmed the curtains around him shut. He vowed he would find out what made other people give him that weird knowing look.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story.**

**Wiana: Haha. This is what you get when you are stuck in the same place for about eight hours with nothing to do. Thank you.**

**beccabam: Thank you**

**NightRain1077: You're welcome. Not entirely sure yet but I think you can guess which way that is leaning towards.**

**Eclipticvibe: Thank you. I feel the same way about all the evil things still happen but like Dumbledore said a few chapters back, everything that Aidan is doing has theoretically already been done so nothing ****_can_**** change. After Aidan gets back, however, is another story.**

**rentamiya: I have to admit. Your review got me thinking … Aidan seems to be spending too much time with Tom. That has to be remedied, yes?**

**eun-nao: I felt exactly the same way. When Tom got bullied by Aidan I was like, oh it's okay it's just Aidan. Then he got bullied by Nagini and I'm like *facepalm***

** delatrix: Now that I think of it, that is kinda true. I'm not entirely sure I understand your last sentence though. Sorry.**

**Is anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year?**


	19. Chapter 18

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 18_**

Aidan woke early the next day. It was a Saturday so many if the Slytherins slept in and only woke in time for lunch. Aidan smirked when he put a compulsion charm on Tom's shampoo, fulfilling his part of the prank the others had thought up. He still wasn't entirely sure what would happen but Tom's reaction would be funny.

When he got to the Common Room, Rachel was waiting for him excitedly. 'Did you do it? Did you do it?' Aidan laughed at the Slytherin girl's excitement and nodded. 'Yes! I'm going to get Theo, be right back.' Rachel left Aidan in the Common Room.

Not entirely sure how long it would take for Rachel to return or how long it would take for the others to wake, Aidan silently went to his dorm and took out a book to read and got Nagini out from within his bed. She grumbled slightly at her sleep being interrupted and being left alone but happily settled herself around Aidan's neck. Nagini was growing. She could now curl herself around Aidan's shoulders easily. Rachel and Theo entered a little while later. They curled up together on one of the few couches the Common Room had.

That was how they were found by a furious Tom half an hour later. His hair was flashing an angry red colour that seemed to suit his mood spectacularly. 'What. Did. You. Do?' he said drawing the trio's attention to him. Rachel tried to suppress her giggles unsuccessfully, Theo started laughing and Aidan used the book he held to cover his face in attempt to stop laughing. His shaking woke Nagini, who peeped out Aidan's robes to see what was making him shake so hard. She stared in shock for a few seconds before her hissy laughter joined the rest of the laughter in the room.

'This is not funny!' Tom snapped in annoyance. Aidan disagreed and conjured a mirror for Tom to see for himself. 'Okay I concede, I do look a bit funny but who did it?'

Rachel and Theo pointed at Aidan, Tom turned to glare at him. 'Hey, hey. How could I prank you if I was in the Infirmary?' Aidan asked pointedly.

'It can only be one of you three, you're the only ones awake,' Tom said with his eyes narrowed.

'No one said it had to be done today,' Aidan said with a slight yawn.

'You know something,' Tom said. 'Tell me.'

'Of course I know something,' Aidan said with a smirk. 'How else would I have made it to Sixth Year?' Aidan shook his head mockingly, making Rachel and Theo laugh even harder. Tom only scowled before marching back to their dorm.

'That was a good one, Aidan,' Rachel said from her place across the room.

Aidan laughed. 'How long is it going to last?' he asked.

'It should wear out by tomorrow at the latest,' Theo explained. 'The potion will make his hair change colour according to his emotions at that particular moment. I just want to see what happens when Tom is confused. I heard it would make his hair flash in rainbow colours, we'll be testing that theory.' Theo smirked a little.

'You are a genius, Theo,' Rachel said, kissing the boy thoroughly. Aidan went back to his book, cheeks a bit pink.

The next time Tom came down, Abraxas was with him sniggering at Tom's yellow hair. Tom was still scowling but he wasn't as angry as he had been before as his hair informed the trio. Rachel ducked her face into Theo's shoulder as her giggles started up again. Tom's hair took on a slightly more orange shade.

'Great! Now we can go have breakfast!' Aidan said cheerily upon their arrival. Tom's hair went pink, apparently he had forgotten about that.

'Can't we go eat in the kitchens today?' he asked hopefully.

'I was looking forward to having breakfast without you twits rushing me,' Abraxas said, catching on to what Aidan was doing quickly.

'Bu-but,' Tom tried to protest but both Abraxas and Aidan were already out the Common Room with Rachel and Theo behind them. Tom followed them unwillingly, trying once again to cast a glamour over his hair.

Upon walking into the Great Hall, they noticed another person with skin that was bright red in embarrassment sitting at the Gryffindor table, staring at the plate in front of him.

'Min, Chris and Liv got Longbottom for you,' Rachel whispered in Aidan's ear. 'Apparently they went all out because he hurt you physically in the process.' She motioned towards Sebastian's skin that was slowly turning a deeper shade of red as he received many amused glances and had to endure lots of finger pointing. 'It's exactly the same potion but I think they put it in his water or something.'

Tom stopped feeling so sorry for himself when he noticed the Gryffindor boy's predicament. He could imagine the Court doing that to him had he not listened to Aidan's warning. He caught Rachel leaning over Aidan and whispering something in his ear and his eyes narrowed.

'Hey Aidan,' Theo called. Aidan looked up at the Ravenclaw. 'I think my sister has a crush on you. Don't tell anyone,' he said in a stage whisper. Aidan gave Theo a shocked look followed by a panicked one.

'Theo …' Aidan sent him a pleading look. 'Please …'

'I'll try my best, Aidan, but I can't promise anything,' Theo gave him a helpless shrug. 'If anything, Jessica is persistent. She's going to start following you if her past of liking boys is any indication. Rachel may be of more help than I am.'

Aidan groaned and turned to look at Rachel hopefully.

'I can try Aidan, but you are going to have to put up with Jessica constantly hanging around you. Sorry,' she said at Aidan's defeated look.

Abraxas nudged Tom sharply, 'Calm down! Your hair is fluctuating from a deep red to a bright green. Your hair is hurting my eyes!'

'Abraxas is right, Tom. You look like a Christmas tree,' Minerva said drawing their attention behind them. Minerva had a small smirk on her face that didn't make Tom feel any calmer.

'Why are all of you ganging up on me today?' Tom whined.

'Would you prefer to have emotion changing skin?' Olivia said from behind Minerva with a raised brow. Christopher was behind her. Tom shook his head, hair paling slightly.

'Well, it is partially your fault that Aidan ended up in the Infirmary. You didn't have to argue with Longbottom,' Abraxas pointed out. They sat on the opposite side to Aidan, Theo, Rachel and the Hufflepuffs that had recently joined them. Poppy was giggling softly and Xeno had his hand over his mouth trying to suppress his mirth. Tom knew they were laughing at him by the glances they sent his way and sighed heavily.

'Aidan?' A shadow passed over Tom and he tensed at the voice, recognizing it instantly.

'What do you want Longbottom?' Tom growled angrily, his hair turned bright red.

'Tom,' Aidan said warningly, sending him a look as he raised his head. 'Sebastian, what are you doing here?' Aidan had honest curiosity in his voice. It made Sebastian feel very guilty at hitting Aidan with the hex.

'I'm sorry, I should have listened when you told us to stop,' Sebastian said. His body was pale, terrified that Aidan would lash out against him but his voice was honest.

Aidan searched his face for a few minutes, finding what he was looking for, he smiled at Sebastian. 'It's fine. I probably shouldn't have stepped between the two of you anyway.'

Sebastian looked at Aidan shocked, he hadn't expected to be forgiven so easily. He had half expected to be cursed by the Slytherin. 'Why?'

Aidan smiled, he understood the unspoken question. 'Why not? That hex would not have killed me and I know it was not your intention to hit me with it, although you should never have decided to use it. Besides, it was just a scratch.' Aidan shrugged.

He had not only managed to shock the Gryffindor before him but also everyone in hearing distance. Slytherins were known for keeping grudges, Tom was a very good example of it but here was a Slytherin that did not hold a grudge despite being put in the Infirmary for what the other boy had done. Their respect for Aidan rose considerably at that.

'Just, don't do it again,' Aidan finished. Sebastian eagerly agreed and went back to the Gryffindor table, his body a happy yellow.

'How could you forgive him so easily? He put you in the Infirmary!' Tom said outraged.

'I forgave you didn't I? Besides, I put myself in the Infirmary. If I hadn't been so angry my magic would have healed me from the inside. Besides, you both have your punishments.' Aidan smiled.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story.**

**KyuubiChild717: That would have been a good reason for the separating of the Light and Dark sides but no, I don't think Aidan could be Neville's grandmother because Augusta is here somewhere … somewhere. I already have a vague idea of what separates the Court into the Light and Dark sides. I don't think Aidan would be ****_that_**** clueless :D**

**rentamiya: I tried … I'll try again next chapter.**


	20. Chapter 19

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue.**

* * *

**_Chapter 19_**

By Monday everything was back to normal. Both Tom and Sebastian were looking normal once again. Aidan went to classes and continued with Dumbledore's extra classes. He worked with Sebastian on the Dueling project which was coming together nicely.

That night, however, he was subjected to another one of his nightmares. This time it was the graveyard again. Wide awake and alert in an instant, he paused to listen if he had woken any of his dorm mates. The silencing charm that he had forgotten to remove from last time was thankfully still working and all he could hear was the peaceful breathing and occasional snore from his dorm mates.

Aidan sighed. It felt like his head had just barely hit his pillow before he had been awoken by the nightmare. Sighing once more he got ready for the day, not bothering to find out what the time was. It was an ungodly hour and Aidan already knew that. He levitated one of the armchairs closer to the fireplace and curled up within it, book in hand. He thought about everything that had happened over the last few months ever since arriving in 1944. He had befriended the parents and grandparents of his classmates and the Dark Lord himself. Something he never would have believed if he had been told that it would happen beforehand. He wondered how much he had changed since he had left his own time. If he ever did return to the future and met Ron and Hermione again, would he still be able to be friends with them or would he be too different?

'Aidan? What are you doing up?' Dorea had walked out of the girl dorm passage without Aidan noticing anything.

'I couldn't sleep,' Aidan said sheepishly, looking up at her.

'Do you want to talk about it?' Dorea said, summoning another armchair close to Aidan's and sitting on it looking at Aidan expectantly. Aidan chuckled at her look.

'Not really, but I see it would not be possible to get away with that answer,' Aidan said. Dorea smiled triumphantly then motioned for Aidan to continue. 'I had a nightmare. I watched a friend die again,' Aidan said, closing pained eyes. Dorea regretted forcing Aidan to talk to her now; she moved to hug Aidan who leaned into her embrace slightly.

'Does it happen often?' Dorea asked gently.

'Not really but the nightmares are occurring more frequently now. I don't know why,' Aidan said frustrated. 'I thought that they were finally gone!'

Dorea shushed him gently. 'It's better if you let your emotions come out than trap them within your mind where they can do more damage. Do you know if anything triggered the nightmares?' Aidan shook his head wordlessly.

'Would you mind if I told the others? Maybe they could help,' Dorea told Aidan. Aidan's eyes widened and he shook his head frantically.

'Please don't,' he pleaded. 'They don't need to know. I'm fine, really.' Dorea reluctantly agreed to abide by his wishes. 'They won't happen again for a while.'

As it was, Aidan was wrong. The next night he had another nightmare and for the next few nights after, Aidan was attacked by nightmares until he was terrified of going to sleep. Dorea didn't catch him in the Common Room again as he stayed in his bed with the curtains drawn around him but she grew suspicious when she saw the bags under his eyes a week later.

'Aidan, are you still having nightmares? You look like you haven't slept at all in the last week,' she whispered to him across the Slytherin table.

'I slept last night!' Aidan whispered back while looking around to make sure no one else was listening in to their conversation.

'What about the other six days?' Dorea replied sarcastically. 'Are you still having nightmares?'

Hesitantly, Aidan nodded.

'Dammit Aidan!' she burst out, drawing the attention of the rest of the Court and half of the school effectively. They stared at her. Dorea was one of the few people in Hogwarts that had never been caught swearing by anyone, not even the Court had ever heard her swear before that day.

'What did you do?' Christopher asked Aidan in awe.

'Nothing,' Aidan replied truthfully.

'Exactly, that's your problem. You did _nothing!_' Dorea hissed in anger.

Christopher blinked up at her. 'You're the first person I've seen get so worked up over someone else doing nothing. Next time I'll remember to always do something.'

'You _will_ tell me if it happens again tonight or so help me I will curse you,' Dorea demanded before sitting down as if nothing had happened. Aidan sent her a grateful look for not telling anyone despite her anger.

'What just happened?' Abraxas asked looking very confused.

'Aidan just got into trouble with Dorea, and she's furious about something he didn't do,' Xeno clarified for the Slytherin.

'I got that but was it really bad enough for Dorea to cuss out loud in the Great Hall? I mean, no one has ever got her to even cuss before,' Abraxas said annoyed.

'That's the thing. She didn't mention _what_ she's angry for. Anyone got any idea?' Poppy asked. Tom, Rachel and Theo exchanged glances while Poppy spoke. There was a possibility that it was about Aidan's sleeping habits. He had left the Common Room after them if he even left the Common Room and arrived before they had even woken up but surely Dorea wasn't angry over that.

During lunch, Aidan went to Professor Slughorn to get a Pepper-Up potion claiming he was feeling a little sick but did not want to spend time in the Infirmary. Slughorn had laughed and handed the potion to Aidan seeing the logic behind Aidan's words. He waved Aidan off as he went to the staff room and Aidan went to the library to join Tom as he always did, taking the potion before he got anywhere near the library and discarding the vial.

That evening at 9 o'clock, Dorea marched to Aidan and handed him a potion. 'You _will_ take this potion tonight.'

Aidan sniffed the potion before dragging her over to a corner and putting up silencing and privacy charms around them, igniting the curiosity in the present members of the Court.

'A dreamless sleep potion?' Aidan asked in amusement.

'Yes,' Dorea said stiffly.

'I've tried it already. It doesn't work anymore and the only thing that is stronger than that is addictive,' Aidan said tiredly. 'I've tried everything, nothing has worked.'

'So you're just going to give up?' Dorea asked incredulously. 'Who are you and what have you done to the Aidan I know? The Aidan that would fight until what he wanted to happen happened?'

'How do you fight against your own mind? Against people you love?' Aidan asked.

Dorea's eyes widened slightly. 'Maybe you don't have to fight alone. Let me tell the rest of the Court, they can help,' Dorea pleaded with Aidan. 'I just thought of something but I need their help.'

Aidan's eyes widened in panic and he began shaking his head.

'Please Aidan. Don't you want to sleep properly again?' Dorea said persuasively. She could see Aidan slowly giving in.

'Fine,' he muttered unhappily at last. He removed the charms and left the Common Room while Dorea went to explain to the rest of the Court. There was still one or two hours until curfew and Aidan didn't want to be in the Common Room when they found out that he couldn't even fight against his dreams. Aidan laughed shakily as he walked up and down outside the Room of Requirement. They would finally see how useless he really was and they wouldn't want him anymore.

The door formed on the wall and Aidan walked into the room. He stopped short at the door. The room looked like a cross between the Slytherin Common Room and the Gryffindor Common Room he remembered. The room had exactly twelve chairs around a fireplace. Two blue chairs, two yellow chairs, three red and five green perfect for the entire Court to fit, each chair according to their house colour.

Aidan backed up until he hit the closed doors behind him and slid down to sit on the floor, his eyed shocked. The setting was so familiar and the atmosphere was one he had only experienced before at the Burrow with the Weasleys. He realized that the Court had become like family to him and he felt like family to them.

He realized why Dorea had been so angry when she found out that he hadn't been sleeping properly. She _cared_, what she did was something Hermione would have done back in his own time only she didn't go to the teacher but did it herself. Dorea didn't forget about Aidan's problems. She treated him like a younger brother.

Aidan only stayed in the room for a little while longer, thinking about all his new revelations and trying to calm himself from the overwhelming emotions he felt at that moment. At some point he had begun to cry, we wasn't entirely sure when but he had and he knew his eyes would be puffy and red only making his lack of sleep more obvious. The room helpfully created a small basin for him to wash his face in before he left.

He took his time walking back to the Slytherin Common Room and only arrived when the time for curfew neared. He found the entire Court waiting for him despite the late hour and the quickly approaching curfew. Dorea spotted him as soon as he returned and went up to him.

'Aidan! What happened? You look terrible,' Dorea said worriedly.

Aidan admitted, he probably did look terrible from his little break down in the Room of Requirement. 'It's nothing. I'm fine,' he said.

Dorea didn't look convinced. 'That's what you said about your nightmares too,' she reminded him.

Aidan winced. 'This is nothing,' he insisted. 'I didn't fight with anyone or anything!' Dorea let it slide in favour of dragging him to the rest of the Court who were watching him closely.

'Don't you dare try to get away, I'll stun you and levitate you,' Dorea said, seeing the fleeing instinct in Aidan's eyes again. He unwillingly followed the Slytherin and sat down, eyes on the floor. He looked away when someone kneeled on the floor in front of him.

'Aidan,' the person said gently. It was Minerva. 'Aidan, look at me.'

She tilted Aidan's head towards her but Aidan closed his eyes as soon as her hand touched his face.

'Aidan, please. You're not in trouble,' she pleaded.

Aidan gathered what Slytherin characteristics he had and put it into making a mask. It took him a few minutes with Minerva still pleading with him to open his eyes. Finally he opened his eyes after making sure they held no emotions. He couldn't show weakness, it was useless and only allowed more pain. The Dursleys had taught him that hard earned lesson. He opened his eyes.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story.**

**H (Guest): Thank you**

**Pailrose: Thank you**

**R (Guest): Glad you think so. It was the only one I could think of that wasn't too serious or would get anyone into trouble :D**

**Shadow Eclipse: Thank you**

**Ash-Bookworm113: I'm not entirely sure myself but it's definitely either before or just after Seventh Year starts. It's the how that's the problem, I've got possibilities but that's about it. When I started I didn't want Tom to be all broody with a cruel streak but I half expected it from all the other fanfics I've read. I like this Tom, he's more human.**

**rentamiya: Well … I don't really plan ahead … much, the only exception are the parts that I think are going to pose a problem. There probably is going to be a new event, big or small, I'm just not aware of it yet.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:**** Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 20_**

Aidan's mask didn't work for Minerva gasped when he opened his eyes before drawing him off the chair and hugging him tightly. Aidan's eyes fluttered shut and he leaned into Minerva's embrace before he could stop himself, his shaking subsided slowly.

'We're not going to stop caring about you,' she whispered repeatedly, holding him close.

The rest of the Court were shocked by Minerva's words. Aidan thought they were going to leave him? For showing weakness? They wondered what had made him think that. They were both angered and saddened by his reaction but held themselves back from going to him not knowing how he would react to being crowded around by them.

Dorea was feeling guilty for making Aidan feel like he would be abandoned by them. She had been the one to insist that the rest of the Court needed to know about his nightmares. She knew about his panic but didn't realize he would react so badly to everyone else knowing.

Tom was furious, he wanted to harm the person or people that had caused Aidan to react like he had. His knuckles were white as he gripped the armchair to stop himself from going to Aidan and holding him. He didn't like that sad, lost look in Aidan's eyes. The members of the Court, excluding Minerva, sent occasional glances his way.

He lost that battle and stood. He ignored the warning looks he received and went over to Aidan and Minerva who had separated from their previous embrace. Tom saw Aidan stiffen slightly when he noticed Tom approaching him.

'Aidan,' was all Tom said before he gathered Aidan into another hug. He felt Aidan's muscles tense slightly but waited until Aidan relaxed until he let go. Tom noticed Minerva move away vaguely, concentrating on the boy in his arms.

'Aidan, you don't have to hide your weaknesses from us,' Tom said gently as if talking to a scared animal. 'We will not judge you on your weaknesses but try and help you whenever we can. However, you need to tell us if you need anything or have problems so we _can_ help you.'

Aidan looked at Tom wide eyed, obviously not expecting the words that had come from Tom's mouth. Aidan was reluctant to believe Tom's words, it was never that easy. Was it?

'Trust us, we may be Slytherins but we protect our own, even if we have to protect them from themselves,' Tom continued upon seeing Aidan's disbelieving eyes. 'Are you willing to trust us?'

Aidan thought it over, carefully searching the faces of every person that surrounded him, watching him closely. He saw their honesty, their hopefulness and their desire to help him. Slowly he nodded.

Tom smiled at him widely and the Court looked relieved. 'Do you want to tell us about your nightmares?'

Aidan knew he couldn't give details on the nightmare and was reluctant to tell them. Minerva and Tom both knew him in the future, Min as a teacher and Tom as the man that wanted to kill him. Most of the dreams were memories that had something to do with Tom as Voldemort. He could tell them, if he was vague enough, he decided but what if he told them too much? Would it even make a difference? Minerva wouldn't expect him to live through those things in the future, Dumbledore knew already or at least suspected but he already knew Aidan was from the future. There really was nothing to lose as long as the names were not the same, no one would realize anything.

'The nightmares,' Aidan shivered slightly at the thought of them, seeing the flash of green light in his mind's eye. Thankfully the Unforgivables had not been invented yet, or so the books had told him. They may not have been recorded yet, hopefully they had not been invented yet. 'are of my friends and family dying.'

Aidan looked up at Tom, eyes sad and pained. He could see shock and horror in Tom's eyes and tried to move away but Tom only held Aidan tighter. There were a couple of gasps but Aidan didn't recognize who they had come from nor could he look as Tom blocked his vision.

'I'm sorry you had to go through that. I cannot say that I know how you feel, I've never lost someone I care about but I can sympathize with you. Just thinking of loosing someone is painful enough,' Tom said softly, eyes still on Aidan's face.

'It will be easier if you get it off your chest,' Xeno said gently, coming up to the two silently reminding Aidan of Luna in that moment, something that helped Aidan start speaking. Luna had always been there to listen when Aidan had needed someone who would not judge him by his weaknesses. She always knew what everybody needed somehow, something Aidan saw she had inherited from her father.

'There are many nightmares. Sometimes many join together, sometimes they repeat themselves over and over again,' Aidan began softly. Tom and Xeno leaned on the arms of Aidan's armchair, offering silent support. Aidan was grateful for their presence.

'There's one of my best friend's sister being kidnapped because someone wanted to kill me, then it was the dementors attacking me and being unable to defend myself. Another is thousands of dementors swarming around my godfather and myself, sucking out happy memories without remorse. Another friend dying because someone wanted to get to me, and my godfather dying in front of my eyes,' Aidan said, giving them a short summary of the last five years of his life as quickly as he could in an attempt to prevent the memories from rising. He shivered again when he remembered the shock on Sirius' face as he fell through the veil.

Silence filled the room when Aidan was done. If Tom and Xeno hadn't had their hands on Aidan's shoulders he would have fled back to his dorm and spelled his curtains shut.

'I'm sorry Aidan. I shouldn't have pushed you into letting me tell everyone,' Dorea said finally, her voice wavering slightly as if she wanted to cry. Aidan looked up and saw that there were tears in many of the Court's eyes.

'It's fine,' Aidan said with a small smile. 'Xeno was right, it is slightly easier knowing I'm not carrying all of this by myself.'

'Glad to hear it. I hope you will be more open with us after this,' Tom murmured from his side.

'Of course, when have I ever been wrong?' Xeno said in mock outrage, an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. It worked for the most part but there were still some undertones of sadness.

'I can think of many times,' Abraxas retorted. 'Like the time you went up to Olivia and thought her name was Sue or something.'

Olivia giggled. 'It was Mary, he thought my name was Mary!'

'Oi! That wasn't my fault! You look like a Mary!' Xeno complained. 'I'm usually good with people's names.'

'You asked me if my name was Daniel,' Christopher said pointedly.

'Urgh! It's only you people! I'd swear your parents were drunk when they named you!' Xeno burst out frustrated, folding his arms childishly.

Aidan burst out laughing at their arguing. The Court looked relieved at being able to get Aidan out of his morose mood and soon joined in arguing with Xeno over his "naming" skills.

'It's almost curfew,' Tom said finally, looking amused at the annoyed look on Xeno's face. They seemed to pointedly send looks Dorea's way at Tom's words.

'Oh yeah, I almost forgot,' Dorea said. She gained a couple of sighs and rolls of eyes before she pulled out something from her pocket. 'I found a possible solution for your nightmares. I got the idea when you told me you had to fight _against_ people you love, why not allow you to fight the nightmares _with_ people that care about you. It is a complex piece of magic but we managed it.'

She opened her hand to reveal what looked like a small gemstone in the shape of a diamond. Aidan looked up curiously at her.

'We each put a piece of our magic into the same spot making sure it came together and this is what formed. Min transfigured a chain so you could wear it and Tom put a couple of charms on it, I'm not entirely sure what they do though,' Dorea said with a slight frown.

'It's to make sure it can't fall of or harm you while you sleep and the other is so no one can remove it but you. I'm sure you can hide it yourself if you want,' Tom said easily.

'Thank you,' Aidan said, taking the necklace and putting it around his neck quickly.

'Great. I hope you don't think I'm rude or anything but we really have to dash. Curfew is in about five minutes … no wait, make that four,' Christopher said standing up. His words caused a ripple of panic as more than half the Court rushed out of the Slytherin Common Room, shouting good nights as they left.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story.**

**Guest: I plan on it having a happy ending. I have to write a chapter daily or within two days of writing the previous one or my mind gets bored with the story. It happened a couple of times. I reckon I should finish it within the next six months at the most. I have a short attention span.**

**delatrix: It will be a while getting there (I think) unless Tom (or Sebastian) gather enough guts to actually tell Aidan. The others don't seem to want to take on that responsibility.**

**Larisya: Thank you**

**D. Akisira R.T.M.S: Tom does realize it but only in the future after Harry leaves his time.**

**Ash-Bookworm113: I know how you feel …**

**rentamiya: I guess it was a bit mysterious … I had to read the chapter to figure that out … hehe **


	22. Chapter 21

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 21_**

Despite the other Slytherin's reassurances, Aidan was still terrified of closing his eyes. Reluctantly, he went to sleep at ten when the others all retreated to his dorms. He could feel the gazes of Tom and Abraxas from across the room as he lay down. It was an unsettling feeling. He was not used to someone watching him while he slept.

'Would you stop watching at me,' Aidan said drowsily sitting up from his bed. He hadn't drawn his curtains around him like he usually did. He heard two soft embarrassed noises and the rustling of blankets before he fell asleep.

Aidan woke the next morning feeling refreshed and content, a welcome change from the last week. He had not been disturbed by the nightmares instead he had felt a warmth while he slept that he had felt last night in the Room of Requirement last night. It had felt like he had been hugged through the night. The hug had felt vaguely familiar but he dismissed the thought. He was glad Dorea's plan had worked. Until he realized that he was the last person to wake up and the Lestrange brothers were both already in the bathroom and Alex's bed was empty, which meant he would have to wake Abraxas.

Aidan paled slightly at the thought, wondering why no one had woken him earlier and thinking about safe ways to wake Abraxas. There were a couple of ideas Aidan remembered from the Weasley twins waking Ron up while at Grimmuld Place when they could finally do magic. Aidan figured the least harmful way and went to stand behind one on the beds so he could duck if necessary.

'Aguamenti,' Aidan whispered, hoping that Abraxas would be disorientated enough not to realize which direction the water came from. Abraxas sat up on the bed as soon as the icy water hit his face with a yelp. He flung the object closest to him in Aidan's direction making Aidan grateful that he had chosen to stand behind a bed. It was a very heavy tomb that had been thrown Aidan's way and landed on the floor with a heavy thump. Aidan had canceled the spell when he had ducked and waited until the door to the bathroom closed before warily standing from his position. He grabbed his bag and bolted down the corridor and into the Common Room.

Tom, the Lestrange twins and Alex were waiting for him there.

'How did it go?' Alex asked as soon as he saw Aidan.

'Well, I'm still in one piece,' Aidan said. 'So I'll say it went well. I wouldn't say the same for everyone though.' Aidan sent Tom a glare. Tom paled, knowing Aidan was going to get him back for not waking him up earlier.

'Well, I thought you needed your sleep,' Tom said warily, edging away from the other boy. Rachel entered the Common Room and Tom took that as an escape. 'Oh look at that, got to dash! Rach wait for me!' Tom left the Common Room quickly leaving their other dorm mates looking after him in shock.

Abraxas came down after a while. 'Where's Tom?' Abraxas asked looking confused.

'He ran after he woke you,' Aidan said smirking as he got an idea. Tom would be expecting Aidan to get him back not Abraxas and Abraxas was always close to Tom during the day.

'He was the one to wake me with that icy cold water?' Abraxas growled.

Aidan faked a surprised expression, 'He woke you with ice cold water? That's horrible.'

'I know, right?' Abraxas said stalking out the Common Room.

'You just set Abraxas on Tom, didn't you?' Alex asked surprised.

'Tom would never have thought of this from me, so he won't suspect it,' Aidan said smirking.

'You just fooled the most Slytherin Slytherins, no wonder you're the one of Slytherin Princes. If your parseltongue ability didn't confirm it this would,' one of the Lestrange twins, Julius, announced in awe.

'Wait, what do you mean "Slytherin Prince"?' Aidan asked as they headed towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

'Well, I'm not entirely sure how to explain this,' the other twin started.

'Basically it is whoever proves to be one of Salazar's descendants, although there have been the occasional person every now and then that had earned that title by their cunningness though that doesn't happen often,' Julius continued for his brother.

'In our case, we have two now. You and Riddle,' Adrian added.

'The Slytherin Princes are at the top of the Slytherin hierarchy,' Julius continued.

'And so basically the entire school will listen to you as you are descended from one of Hogwarts' founders,' Adrian said cheerfully.

'But-'

'Aidan!'

They were outside the doors of the Great Hall and the voice interrupted Aidan from questioning the others further. Aidan had never realized the extent of the Slytherin hierarchy and the effect it had on the school. It was Sebastian.

'You look much better today,' he said in greeting.

Aidan raised an eyebrow. 'I'm great and how are you?' he asked sarcastically.

'Oh, sorry about that,' Sebastian said sheepishly. 'You just look like you're doing better than you were doing the last few days. I was wondering if you wanted to work on our Dueling project during lunch. I know it's due in over a month's time but just to make sure the spells we are using _can_ be combined and if not start again without rushing too much.'

'Sure,' Aidan said. 'That's a good idea. Where?'

'Professor Abbot gave us permission to use his classroom instead of the library,' Sebastian said.

'Okay.'

'Great, see you at lunch then.'

They split ways, heading to the opposite ends of the Hall towards their house tables. Abraxas was watching Tom smugly as Tom's cutlery waged war against him and Tom was frantically trying unsuccessfully to push the enchanted cutlery away with a piece of his toast.

'You set him on me!' Tom cried out when he saw Aidan. 'His enchanted cutlery attacked me while I was relaxing! I wasn't expecting him to attack me!'

'Now, why would I do such a thing? You're such a good friend after all,' Aidan drawled, seeing the panic in Tom's eyes upon realizing why Abraxas was charming his cutlery and would continue to charm random objects throughout the day.

'You didn't,' Tom said in horror, forgetting the cutlery for a second before it butted his hand again.

'Now what exactly was I supposed to have done,' Aidan said in mock confusion. 'Oh and I won't be at the library for lunch. I'm working on the Dueling project with Sebastian.' Aidan reached over to grab a piece of toast away from the cutlery that had decided attacking Tom had become boring.

'Why,' Tom whined, not caring how childish it sounded.

'We want to make sure our project will work and have enough time to deal with it if it doesn't,' Aidan shrugged.

'Guys, if we want to get to Runes on time we need to go now,' Rachel called back to them.

Tom remained in a snappy mood until lunch when Aidan simply gave up and headed towards the Dueling classroom, leaving the other to figure out a way to get Tom out of his dark mood.

'Mister Morin, both you and Mister Longbottom are very dedicated students,' Professor Abbot said when Aidan entered the class. 'I know there are some students in my class that would leave the entire project for the last two weeks. Good luck to both of you. I trust the classroom will still be in one piece when I get back.' He smiled and left.

Sebastian arrived just a few minutes after the professor had left the classroom. 'Sorry I'm late. I had Care of Magical Creatures,' he said in apology.

'It's fine,' Aidan said and they started working on the finer details of their project, casting both spells multiple times to find which specific parts they wanted and simultaneously to see how they reacted to each other. It was halfway through lunch when Aidan decided to ask his unanswered question from a couple of days ago.

'Why did you and Tom fight that day?' he asked.

Sebastian froze, obviously caught off guard by the question. He thought about lying for a moment but knew he would not be able to lie to Aidan's face like that. He wished Aidan had not asked the question now.

'We fought about you,' Sebastian said, purposely being vague hoping Aidan wouldn't want him to clarify anything.

'I know that,' Aidan said impatiently. 'That's all anyone watching figured out. Why, though?'

'Well,' Sebastian hesitated. 'We were arguing over you. I-I feel attracted to you.'

Aidan's eyes widened.

'And Riddle does too I'm sure, because he was telling me to stop spending so much time with you,' Sebastian continued, pulling all of his Gryffindor bravery. He honestly would prefer to face a dementor at that moment instead of Aidan. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him at that moment. 'I said there was no reason for me to stop spending time with you.'

Aidan didn't hear anything else Sebastian said, his mind a whirlwind of shocked thoughts. He doubted he would have been able to speak if he tried.

'Aidan?' Sebastian called out worriedly. 'Aidan, are you alright?'

Aidan couldn't take it anymore. He bolted out of the room.

The project could wait.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story.**

**KyuubuChild717: Tom suspects it in the future but is not entirely sure. Not sure when they're going to get together, stubbornness I tell you!**

**H (Guest): Thank you!**

**danbear: Will do**

**Guest: Thank you, I hope so too.**

**Ash-Bookworm113: He did have the pressure building inside him for a while. It was probably worse because no one really expected him to have any weaknesses, so he couldn't really tell anyone.**

**rentamiya: Me too, me too… I wonder about myself sometimes … I really should know these stuff.**

**D. Akisira R.T.M.S: The prophecy … yeah … it will be interpreted differently definitely. As for Voldemort knowing that Harry went to the past it will become more clear later but yes, it does have something to do with the link they share (I think). Thank you XD**


	23. Chapter 22

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 22_**

Aidan paid no attention to where he was running. His mind seemed to be one repeat.

_We were arguing over you. I-I feel attracted to you._

Aidan hadn't believed his ears when he heard those words.

_And Riddle does too I'm sure._

Tom felt attracted to him? It was a mind numbing thought, but it would explain a lot of Tom's actions towards him.

Aidan's forehead furrowed as he found himself standing outside the portrait of the fruit basket that he knew the kitchens lay behind. He could feel the warmth of the kitchen through the portrait if he stood close enough. The Hufflepuff Common Room was somewhere nearby, or so Xeno had said in passing. He wondered vaguely why he ended up here until the thought was swept away by his previous questions.

Shrugging, he entered the kitchens. He waved away the overexcited house elves' offers of various food, telling them he just needed a place where no one would find him. They continued their work, occasionally stealing unhappy glances in his direction. Aidan ignored them in favour of his inner war.

It wasn't possible was it? Was there even the possibility that he liked guys? Aidan hadn't paid much attention to his sexuality before, always too busy trying to survive Voldemort. The only person he had ever kissed had been Cho after one of the of the DA meetings last year and he knew he was expected by the Wizarding World to fall in love with a girl and marry her after the war but did he like girls?

He thought about Ginny. She had been nursing a crush on him since Second Year, earlier even if what Ron and the twins often said was true. He thought he knew her well enough. He assessed his thoughts of her to figure out if he felt attracted to her in any way. No, he decided, she felt more like a little sister to him than possible dating material. Maybe he was thinking of the wrong person.

His thoughts moved on to Cho. She definitely was beautiful and he was not close enough to her for her to feel like a sibling. The kiss they had shared at been … awkward. She had still been mourning Cedric during that time, surely that counted for something? Thinking back on that kiss though, he hadn't felt anything towards Cho. There wasn't anything he had come to associate with a person falling in love with another. There hadn't been that spark that was so famously associated with people that fell in love.

Trying to think of Hermione in that way would be pointless. Hermione was his sister in all but blood. It would be _weird_ to date her besides, Ron liked Hermione even if he didn't want to admit it to himself. Aidan had half expected the two to get together during the year that he would have spent in the future.

He thought of any girl that came to his mind but he felt no attraction to any of them. He could easily say they were beautiful but he felt no wisp of attraction towards them.

It was difficult for Aidan to think of guys in that way. He had not noticed other boys in that way, never for once suspecting that he was anything but straight. It was making it incredibly difficult to resolve this issue.

Aidan felt his wand heat up telling him that he should start moving towards his next class. He wondered out of the kitchen and towards the Charms classroom deciding that he would attempt to figure this out once and for all. He would figure it out by the end of the day. There were enough guys in Hogwarts.

Avoiding both Tom and Sebastian proved impossible as one of them sat next to him during every lesson he took. If Tom had noticed Aidan's examination of other boys he didn't mention it but Aidan did catch Tom's clenched fist and the tightening of his jaw on occasion before he calmed down slightly.

Sebastian had apologized for his bluntness during that day's Dueling class but Aidan simply waved him off saying that he doubted he would have gotten the point otherwise. Sebastian's irritation showed more obviously on his face and his hand was constantly twirling his wand as if he wanted to curse the person Aidan was examining.

Both their reactions had not only further confirmed Sebastian's words but made the situation painfully more realistic. He didn't want to hurt either one of them if he _was_ attracted to guys, something that was quickly becoming clear to Aidan. He wondered how he had never realized it before.

The last lesson he had was his training with Dumbledore and thankfully neither of them bothered to stay for that. A reprieve from the jealousy he could see in both Tom and Sebastian throughout the day. Dumbledore finally let Aidan go after realizing that he had a lot on his mind and would not be able to learn anything that day but warned Aidan to be ready to learn the following day.

Aidan entered one of the abandoned classrooms and through his bag down near the door after he closed it. It was so frustrating. He had no idea what to do in a situation like this. If you put him in front of a dragon, he knew he had to defend himself and get away. If you put him in front of Voldemort or even Grindelward, he knew he had to fight, but this? This was unknown territory. Territory he had never been anywhere close to before. The closest he had been was Hermione fighting with Ron over something stupid and with that he knew he would be forgiven and all would be fine even if he made a mistake.

So he knew he was gay, what next? Where was he supposed to go from here? In situations like this, Aidan usually used that rather helpful gut feeling which was suspiciously absent right now and Merlin did he need it.

Aidan punched the nearby stone wall, ignoring the stinging sensation in his fist, venting his frustrations into the solid object. He sat on the dirty, dusty classroom floor with his arms wrapped around his legs that were bent up to his chest. His back was against the wall. His right fist was throbbing and he could feel thick liquid sliding onto his fingers, creating a growing patch of blood on his pants leg near his knee. He knew he should probably get it checked soon but could not find it in himself to stand up and walk to the Infirmary, forget about facing the Healer there.

He could feel tears prickling at his eyes. He tried to stop them from falling, crying would not help him in a situation like this. It would only make it worse. He wiped his eyes with his unbloodied hand, he could feel the wound on his knuckles healing slowly as it usually did meaning he would not need to visit the Infirmary that night.

It was a while later that Aidan had finally convinced himself that it was time to move from his position and go to the Common Room. He knew he must look like a mess, his clothing having bits of dust and specks of blood but he didn't care wanting only to clean up and snuggle into his bed. He was tired and run rugged by the entire day as a whole. He had learned a lot about himself in a relatively short period of time.

Aidan gained a couple of gasps as he passed through the Common Room. He ignored them in favour of returning to his dorm. None of the Court were there. Aidan did not know what they were doing but was glad that he would not be bothered by them today. He doubted he would be able to handle them today in the mood he was currently in. Besides, he didn't want to face Tom either.

When Aidan heard the others come in, he was already in bed with his curtains charmed shut with a sticking charm just in case. They lowered their voices when they noticed the shut curtains but he could still hear their whispers as he drifted off to sleep, green eyes closing tiredly.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story. It's been a month since my first post.**

**ZippyStar: Sorry I couldn't update sooner. School has begun once more, so it's back to once every two days.**

**D. Akisira R.T.M.S: Well firstly it's because he thought he was straight (*facepalm*) and he also knows subconsciously that he is going to return to his time at some point. He does not want to hurt anyone.**

**tsukiko-uchiha95: Thank you. It did make me wonder where he went off to too … XD**

**bluetoads: Well he is in Slytherin for something.**

**Ash-Bookworm113: He was honest which is good. I don't know if they will get together. I can imagine how Tom will react, it'll be really funny.**

**Guest: Hehehe, thank you. There might be ...**

**rentamiya: Me knowing about these things never help … the characters take over. I swear they have their own minds and tell me what to write (don't tell anyone XDDD).**

**Yana: Confusion and chaos, my work here is done :D**

**Kendra Dhyanna: Thank you. Your review was unique, :D**

**yuiop: Thank you**


	24. Chapter 23

**_Disclaimer:_********Same as prologue**

* * *

**_Chapter 23_**

Aidan woke earlier than the others the next day but opted to remain in bed for a bit longer. He needed someone else's opinion but he could not ask someone that was close to either Sebastian or Tom as the person would be biased towards one of them. There was no way he could simply make a decision. What if he chose wrong?

'A sickle for your thoughts?' a feminine voice asked from his bedside.

Aidan's eyes widened for a second before he recognized the voice.

'Is that all they're worth?' Aidan asked with a horrified expression on his face. 'Don't answer that,' he said upon seeing Arianna's expression.

Arianna laughed. 'You look like you need to talk to someone. After all the listening you have done for me, it is only fair I listen when you need it,' Arianna said.

Aidan hesitated for a moment before he slowly began his tale of the last few days; of the fight, of Sebastian's honesty and of his own confusion. Arianna was a good listener but she had a very amused expression on her face throughout the entire tale which annoyed Aidan to no end.

'What?' he asked after a couple minutes of silence with no change to Arianna's expression.

'So you have two guys that like you, you're gay and you are confused about how you feel,' Arianna said, ignoring Aidan's question. 'How do you feel about Tom and Sebastian separately, if you didn't know they liked you?'

'Well, they're good friends,' Aidan said slowly.

'And?' Arianna prompted.

'Well, Sebastian is nice company. He's smart, kind. He's _Gryffindor. _Tom is nice to be around. I like arguing with him, both of us are the only ones that can speak parseltongue. I enjoy our silences, they're comfortable. I hate it when he's angry with me. Urgh, it's so confusing,' Aidan said dropping his head into his hands. 'I don't want to hurt either of them.'

Arianna's eyes softened slightly. The decision was tough for the boy before her. She had never seen him this frustrated, not even when they searched for a way to rid him of those _awful_ glasses he used to wear. They both heard the rustling as the other Slytherins began waking up.

'Think over what you said today. Examine your feelings while you interact with the two boys today. We can discuss your discoveries tonight. I have my suspicions, I don't know if they're true or not and I don't want to influence you. Besides, I doubt you want to wake the Malfoy heir again,' Arianna said as she walked out of the portrait.

Aidan shot out of bed to get ready. Thankful he could still see sleeping forms in their beds. He fumbled for a minute while he searched for another uniform as he was still wearing the bloodied one from the previous day. The house elves usually washed and ironed their uniforms while they slept but obviously couldn't last night. He was careful to wash away all the blood and any traces of his break down the day before.

Tom was already out of the dorm when Aidan returned for his book bag and he say Adrianna leave her portrait looking smug. Aidan decided that he really did not want to know what she had done so didn't bother stopping her. Tom was waiting for him in the Common Room.

'I hope you're well,' Tom said, walking towards him with a strange gleam in his eye. 'You went to bed early yesterday. You had us worried when we couldn't find you.'

Aidan gulped and tried to side step him. 'Yeah, well. I'm all in one piece aren't I?' Aidan laughed nervously.

'Your friend, _Arianna_, gave me some interesting advice,' Tom continued.

Aidan silently cursed the portrait. What happened to her _"I don't want to influence your choice"?_

'What kind of advice would that be?' Aidan asked, a lot more nervous than before eying Tom warily. Tom was extremely close to Aidan at this point. Aidan tried to take another step back but realized that he had backed up into a wall.

Tom kissed Aidan.

Aidan was shocked and didn't react to the gentle pressure of Tom's lips on his own. Tom pulled away slowly. Aidan looked at him wide-eyed, Tom took a step back and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

'Erm, I would apologize but I probably wouldn't mean it so I won't,' Tom said with a slight blush backing up slightly.

Aidan blushed as his mind began thawing from its frozen state. Damn that meddling girl! He thought furiously trying to tame his blush somewhat. 'Erm,' Aidan started uncomfortably, at a slight loss for words.

Rachel, thankfully, exited the female dorm passage then. 'Oh, was I interrupting something?' she asked looking between the two.

'Erm, no. It was nothing,' Aidan said, thankful for the distraction. 'I, er, need to find Sebastian. I just had an idea for our project.' In hindsight, that probably wasn't the best thing for him to say, Aidan thought noticing the slight clenching of Tom's jaw before he hastily made his exit. He hoped he had done nothing to ignite Tom's ire enough to fight with Sebastian again.

Aidan paused. What was or rather _who_ was he more worried about getting harmed. Tom or Sebastian?

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story and sorry for the delay.**

**Yana5: I'm not entirely sure if the Basilisk would be released this year or had already been released in the previous year.**

**Kendra Dhyanna: Thank you and you were very right about Aidan going to someone for advice. It was one of the more difficult chapters to write, I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

**Larisya: Thank you?**

**Ash-Bookworm113: I hope you're feeling better. Sorry for the delay. It's only exams that are coming up anyway … in less than a month … counting for 75% of my grade…**

**KyuubiChild717: I totally agree with you**

**rentamiya: I really don't know what's next … it's annoying in a way.**

**H (Guest): Sorry**

**emeralds (Guest): Just speculating? JUST speculating? Very, very perceptive. Thank you XD**

**DianaRiddle (Guest): Thank you! You … hate … Aidan? Or do you mean Sebastian, 'cause you can't like Harry and hate Aidan … that would be weird. :P**


	25. Chapter 24

**_Disclaimer:_**** I don't own Harry Potter or anything you recognize.**

**_Chapter 24_**

Aidan didn't really have to talk to Sebastian, their project was going as planned and didn't need much more discussion before they could discuss the final finer detail. That had just been an excuse to get out of the Common Room and not be stopped by anyone on the way.

Aidan still had to wrap his head around _that_ which did not help when Tom's recent actions towards him. He wanted to hide but knew it would be better if he faced his _problem_ before classes started again on Monday instead of hiding as he desperately wished he could.

He only hoped there would be no further _complications_ on the matter.

He remembered Arianna's words and groaned silently when he realized that he would have to interact with both Tom and Sebastian in order to sort out his feelings if Arianna's words were true. Aidan sighed, it was going to be a long weekend.

After Aidan had left the Common Room Rachel turned to Tom, 'What did you do? I've never seen him look so shocked!'

Tom looked a little embarrassed and mumbled a couple of words that were unintelligible.

'I'm sorry? I didn't catch that,' Rachel said looking amused.

Tom's blush deepened. 'I, erm, I kissed him,' Tom whispered.

'You did what? What in Merlin's name possessed you to do such a thing?' Rachel said shocked.

'Well,' Tom started to explain but Rachel cut him off again.

'I understand that you don't want to lose Aidan to Sebastian but you shouldn't pressure him into anything,' Rachel told Tom to his shock.

'You knew?' he asked horrified.

Rachel paused from her long impromptu spiel, 'Of course we knew, I doubt there is a person in this school that is unaware of your situation. Except maybe Aidan but that is given considering the situation.'

Tom groaned into his hands. It just kept getting better and better. He doubted his day could get much worse than it currently was.

Aidan met Sebastian on his way to the Great Hall.

'Aidan!'

Aidan turned at the sound of his name.

'Are you okay? I heard you looked like you had a fight when you went to your Common Room yesterday,' Sebastian said looking worriedly at Aidan, searching for any wounds or scars from the perceived fight Aidan had been in.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' Aidan said with a smile. 'I just lost control for a bit before that. I didn't fight with anyone,' Aidan laughed.

Sebastian looked relieved. 'Oh, well I'm glad no one is going to hold something against you within Hogwarts.'

Aidan looked sharply at Sebastian at that but smiled at him gratefully. 'I'm not so sure about that,' Aidan said jokingly. 'I'm sure your admirers would not agree with that statement for occupying as much of your time as I have been.'

'Well, they're going to just have to deal with it,' Sebastian smiled, getting a bit closer to Aidan. Aidan unconsciously took a step back, a bit uncomfortable with the attention they had been receiving from the other students on the way to the Great Hall.

Sebastian took another step forward and kissed Aidan, in the middle of the corridor. There were many gasps and a couple of giggles from the students who had stopped to stare.

For the second time that morning, Aidan found himself stunned.

Suddenly Aidan was standing in the middle of the corridor alone as Sebastian was not standing next to him anymore.

'Get your filthy hands off him!'

A mass of black with streaks of green and silver flew past him in his shocked state. It took a while before Aidan's mind recognized the person's voice and the two bodies fighting in front of him.

Tom had flown at Sebastian and was currently fighting him. In the middle of the corridor. Over him.

Aidan snapped out of his daze. 'Both of you stop it!' Aidan hissed and blasted both of them to opposite sides of the hall. Both sported multiple bruises, a split lip and what looked like a broken nose respectively.

'So you are defending him over me?' Tom asked, eyes blazing furiously. 'You're choosing him over me?'

'I'm not choosing anyone over anyone, especially if both of you are acting like children as you have been acting for the past few weeks,' Aidan hissed, turning furious eyes on Tom who gulped at the look in Aidan's eyes. 'I am sick and tired of both of you acting like spoilt brats.' He turned to gift Sebastian with another glare and Sebastian paled.

'When both of you learn to _grow up_ and get over your petty insecurities then and only then will I even _consider_ speaking to you again!' Aidan snarled and left, the watching students parted easily to allow him to pass, not willing to face his wrath.

Aidan went down to the kitchens where the house elves excitedly greeted him and began putting lots of different types of food in front of him. Aidan smiled tiredly and thanked the house elves for their hospitality as he left the kitchens.

Aidan knew he had failed wonderfully at Arianna's task. He had just lost control of his emotions once he had been faced with those two fighting. He barely even understood his surprising anger when faced with that situation. He could chalk it up to him caring about both of them but that did not help his situation any.

Aidan sighed.

It was going to be a _very_ long week.

**Thank you to everyone who favourited and followed my story so far. Sorry about the long wait. Woo, exams are over! If you reviewed as "Guest" lol just read the one that applies to you (it's in the order I received them, first at the top and llater ones below it) I think I got three of those.**

**ValeryaPotter: Thank you :D Sorry for the long wait.**

**Guest (1): This is called ****_fanfiction_**** for a ****_reason_****. If you want to read something straight from cannon why don't you go and read the books again while leaving the people who actually ****_want_**** to write for other people to enjoy the hell alone. Because ****_obviously_**** you are unable to use any of the ****_imagination_**** most people seemed to be graced with as you don't even have an account. Too afraid to get flamed? Why don't you grow some. Besides, being gay has nothing to do with genes it is a mindset. You can take your simple mindedness and mind numbingly stereotypical person and click on back space because quite frankly I ****_do not_**** give a damn about what you think. I do believe I have lost enough brain cells while answering your unwanted opinion and bothering to read your review. And I will put a warning so idiots like you never make your way back here again.**

**Yana5: Thank you**

**RedBisou: Thank you :D**

**Kendra Dhyanna: Glad you approve and your clash between Tom and Sebastian :D**

**Tuinne (Guest): Glad you liked it :D**

**Guest (2): Well that is my point of view, if you don't see it that way and have never let your imagination get away with you, you are very welcome to have your own thoughts on the matter and hit the back button.**

**Laurenmk20: I've realized that, but I only found out on Pottermore ****_after_**** I wrote it, so I was like all 'Oh well.'**

**Ash-Bookworm113: I'm glad**

**Guest (3): Thank you. Still have one left but bleh I've never studied for that exam in my life and don't plan on starting any time soon!**

**Petrahol (Guest): haha. I don't know if my imagination goes that far …**

**ShadowEclipse: Yes, choices are always lovely aren't they?**

**ToshimiOkami: Thank you :D**

**rentamiya: haha**

**hikari no senshi17: Thank you :D**

**D. Akisira. R.T.M.S: Thank you and that is probably the reason.**

**Black-Dranzer-1119: The ending is happy (well I plan on it being) I have a somewhat half baked plan for when Harry gets back to his time. Thank you, you gave me a lot more to think about.**

**Odelia-Chan: Thank you, glad you approve.**

**Kat100666: yay! This is exciting! Your one of my favourite ffnet authors!**

**TheWaterInTheDrought: :D Thank you! I won't ever give up, promise!**

**kogouma: Thank you! :D**

**nosyrosie16: Thank you for your review :D**


	26. Chapter 25

_**Disclaimer: Same as prologue**_

_**Chapter 25**_

"Aidan, I believe you have progressed far enough in your dueling to begin dueling of another sort," Dumbledore said upon Aidan entering the classroom.

"What do you mean Professor?" Aidan asked wearily.

"I have a friend who is willing to do me a favour and teach you muggle styles of fighting if you ever lose your wand by chance. Would you be willing to learn?" Dumbledore asked.

Aidan could clearly see the usefulness of learning how to fight but there was also the fact that he would have to find time to learn as well as keep up with all the work that the Professors themselves gave during the lessons but he probably would manage it considering he wasn't doing Quidditch during this time period.

"When and where?" Aidan asked after a long moment.

Dumbledore smiled. "That would be up to you my boy," he said, eyes twinkling.

Aidan sighed and sent Dumbledore a slight glare. The man wasn't making it any easier and it felt like he was writing his own death sentence as he made his decision.

"How about on a Saturday? That would leave Sunday for me to rest and catch up on homework," Aidan said, giving it only a little thought.

"You would be missing most of your Hogsmeade weekends," Dumbledore pointed out.

"If it is going to help keep me alive then it is well worth it," Aidan said gravely.

"Very well, Saturday it is then," Dumbledore said. "Now let us begin."

Aidan was proud to say he could hold his own against Dumbledore and even beat him with a few lucky shots every now and then. Dumbledore himself was rather pleased with his progress as well and quite often showered Aidan with praise.

As Saturday arrived Aidan could be found on his way to Dumbledore's office, ready to side-along apparate to his new teacher's residence when Dumbledore decided to inform Aidan of some rather crucial information.

"Your teacher is a squib," Dumbledore began, "and as such he does not allow wands when he teaches wizards as it is an unfair advantage. So I shall be keeping your wand for you for the duration of the lesson." Dumbledore apparated.

Aidan was tugged along as his mind struggled to process what Dumbledore had just said. Did he not realize how dangerous it was to not have one's wand at hand?

When they landed Dumbledore noticed Aidan's apprehensive look. "Don't worry, you are in no danger here. I trust this man with my life," Dumbledore said quietly.

And mine as well, Aidan thought, just like my father trusted Pettigrew.

"You're just going to have to trust me," Dumbledore said.

Aidan sighed, knowing there would be no backing out of it now.

The house that stood before them was simple. It had a small front yard with a winding pathway that led to the front door where a tall man stood, smiling slightly as he noticed Dumbledore. Dumbledore walked over to greet the man with Aidan following him slightly behind.

"Albus," the man said in greeting.

"Jeremy," Dumbledore replied. "How has life been treating you?"

"Same old, same old. So this is the boy you want me to train?" he asked catching sight of Aidan.

"The very same," Dumbledore agreed.

The man, Jeremy, gave Aidan a once over. "He's gonna need quite a bit of work if he ever even dreams of wanting to physically protect himself." Suddenly he threw something towards Aidan whose hand automatically came up to catch the small projectile.

"Perhaps there is something I can work with. He's got good reflexes," Jeremy said.

It was not long afterwards that Dumbledore relieved Aidan of his wand and apparated back to Hogwarts, leaving Jeremy to go over his rules which were reasonable enough.

After the first minute of actual fighting however, Aidan found out just how horrible he truly was at fighting and had a brief taste about how the rest of the lessons were going to end up playing out: with Jeremy kicking his ass, badly.

Jeremy's theory? You never learn unless you experience it yourself, and damn did it hurt.

When the lesson came to an end, Aidan was sore all over and could barely move. Dumbledore arrived and thoughtfully brought a few helpful potions with him, which Aidan downed quickly in relief. When they made it back to Hogwarts, Aidan went straight to his dorm and fell asleep. It was a Hogsmead weekend, which meant the castle was empty and no one would notice his absence or disturb him thankfully.

Aidan was reluctant to get out of bed the next day, his muscles were still sore from the previous day's exercise. They actually felt worse, if that was actually possible. The only thing that got him out of bed was the fact that he was starving after missing supper the previous day.

Aidan knew he still had the six foot Potions essay as well as a couple of calculations for Arithmacy left to do. He had thankfully finished the others on Friday night before he went to sleep. He reached the Great Hall just as breakfast was ending and quickly ate enough to sustain him for a few hours before all the dishes disappeared.

Aidan sighed and dragged himself over to the library to finish his homework. Next time he would finish his homework on Friday night and rest on Sunday.

Monday was a long time coming and Aidan was only speaking the bare minimum to either Tom or Sebastian, less if he could manage it. During the classes with Tom, he refused to partner with him. If all the other people within the Court were already partnered with each other, he would partner with someone else from another house be it Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Once the Court realized this they made sure at least one person partnered with Aidan and another with Tom each time to prevent the many rumours that spread through the school by their classmates. Aidan easily ignored Tom during that time but interacted with everyone else normally. Tom saw this with despair.

It was a little more difficult for Aidan to ignore Sebastian but Sebastian was less able to control his emotions and was more affected by Aidan's silence than Tom seemed to be and could not allow Aidan to continue with his silence for too long.

A week later found Sebastian apologizing to Aidan during the last free lesson the Professor gave them to complete their project.

"Aidan, I'm sorry for angering you and fighting with Riddle. I will try to act civil around him but I apologize in advance if I cannot," Sebastian said sincerely. Seeing that Aidan had not yet even moved to glance his way, he continued to explain, "Riddle simply rubs me the wrong way especially since the Chamber of Secrets had opened last year. I know he did it but Hagrid got sent to Azkaban. I know Hagrid is innocent but no one is going to take my word against Riddle's," Sebastian said bitterly.

Aidan turned to look at Sebastian with strangely knowing eyes and Sebastian sighed in grateful relief.

"Why are you so angry on your friend, Hagrid's, behalf? If he was innocent would the ministry not have a way to find out?" Aidan asked curiously.

"They have enough proof. All the Slytherins are willing to blame Hagrid not to mention many of the other students. It is well known that Hagrid tends to take a liking to extremely dangerous pets. There were rumours of a giant spider in the castle last year, probably Hagrid's, but it was only a rumour. I'm not sure of how much truth there is to that rumour. It would probably have been true though," Sebastian said wryly with a small shake of his head.

Aidan smiled slightly. "I've heard about those rumours too. They probably have some truth in them," he said, thinking back on the few of Hagrid's pets he had met previously namely Fluffy and Aragog.

"That didn't cause fights between you two before though," Aidan pointed out. "So why now?"

Sebastian laughed. "You really are innocent, aren't you?"

Aidan flushed and turned away slightly.

"We both want you and are willing to take out the competition. Being enemies only made it that much worse," Sebastian explained.

"Still as blunt as always," Aidan teased.

"I'm a Gryffindor! What do you expect?" Sebastian said in mock indignation.

Aidan laughed. "You can't blame everything on being Gryffindor, look at Minerva, she's not as blunt as you are at her worst," Aidan said still laughing.

The rest of the lesson passed quickly and soon the bell had rung for lunch, still talking and teasing each other.

The entire hall went silent when they walked into the hall together. Sebastian motioned to sit at the Gryffindor table and Aidan made an agreeable movement. Most people had turned to watch them by the time they sat down at the table as if the fight outside the hall had never happened.

Eyes flickered between them and the Slytherin table, the other Slytherin Prince to be more precise, with Aidan barely noticing. Money changed hands with sighs of resignation.

Dark eyes from across the hall were locked on the two, narrowing in frustration as he watched Aidan and Sebastian interact normally if not a bit jovially. Something Aidan still would not do with him.

How could Aidan forgive Sebastian so easily? Tom wondered. Obviously he was missing something.

Poppy and Rachel slid in on either side of Tom while he watched the two.

"See, we told you before. You should go and apologize to Aidan," Rachel said, catching a glimpse of the two.

"What would make you think that?" Tom replied.

"Aidan was still ignoring Sebastian in Potions before they had Duelling together. Besides, Angelique told me they were talking through Duelling. Nothing spectacular happened other than that," Poppy informed them.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Rachel asked, helping herself to some food before turning to look at Tom.

"What am I supposed to do?" Tom asked, glancing at the two girls.

"Apologize or let him see that you truly are sorry about fighting with Sebastian," Rachel said.

"Or you could talk to the portrait he has on his bedside," Abraxas said, joining their conversation. "They seem to be very close, if there's anyone that could help you if would be her."

"What about Nagini? She's bound to be helpful," Rachel added.

Tom looked thoughtful. "That would be true. I'll try."

"And you'd better succeed," Rachel said.

"I know," Tom said, "I know."

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favourited so far and sorry for the wait!**


	27. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: Same as prologue**

**_Chapter 26_**

It didn't take long for Aidan to notice the glances being sent his and Sebastian's way. When his and Tom's eyes met, he gave Tom a very blank look and Tom looked away each time.

Tom seemed to finally have enough and muttered a word to Abraxas before leaving the Slytherin table to the bated breath of the rest of the hall but he merely left the chamber. The sigh of disappointment that was released by many of the onlookers was carefully ignored by Aidan. Sebastian looked on with concerned eyes.

"He's getting angsty, you know," he said finally.

"I know," Aidan said calmly.

"You don't have to stay angry with him," Sebastian said.

"I'm not angry with him," Aidan sighed and turned to face Sebastian. "He just needs to admit that he was wrong so he knows to try not to do the same thing next time."

Sebastian's eyes got a knowing look. "Ah," was all he said.

Aidan groaned, he knew that expression.

Tom made his way to the Slytherin Common Room knowing that he did not have much time before the second half of lessons began and he did not have a free lesson next but he had to know. Right now his best chance at knowing was that young girl in the frame on Aidan's bedside.

Thankfully, she was in her frame as he did not think he would have been able to call her.

"Erm," he stopped short, trying to remember her name. He was sure he had heard Aidan say her name a couple of times.

"Adrianna," she supplied helpfully. "Yes?"

"I-I want to know-Aidan-" Tom began.

"Oh you want help with Aidan? I promised to help Aidan but I did not promise to help you," she stared at Tom a little calculatingly, "but perhaps helping you is helping him," she said mysteriously. "Continue."

"Aidan is ignoring me and I don't know how to get him to talk to me again. Longbottom seemed to have an easy time but it can't be as simple as only apologizing. It never is," Tom said, the last part softer than the rest.

"Well the apologizing part is kinda easy," Adrianna admitted, "the promise behind it is much more difficult."

"What promise?" Tom asked confused.

Adrianna gave him a look. "Are you really a Slytherin or did the hat make a mistake? The promise that you'll try your hardest not to let what you're apologizing for happen again," Adrianna stated frankly.

Tom froze. Had Longbottom really made that promise so easily? Without a second thought? To give up years of rivalry in a moment?

Then Tom thought about what would happen if he didn't. Aidan would never speak to him again, never smile at him like _that_ again, never argue over some obscure theory for no reason, never simply _laugh_ at him over a ridiculous prank at his expense.

Tom could barely stand this now, this silence. It was nearly physically painful. It made him feel like ripping out his heart and handing it to Aidan on a silver platter as an apology. The thought of this silence continuing for even another month, forget forever, caused a pang of sorrow to run through his body.

No, it could not continue like this. He wouldn't allow it. He would do anything to get Aidan back to what they were before at the very least. More if possible.

"Thank you," Tom said softly, the words seemingly insignificant compared to the knowledge the portrait had just imparted on him.

"Just … make sure-Keep him happy," Adrianna said, a strange glint in her eye. "He's been through more than you can imagine. He still is."

"I'll do my best," Tom promised, not trusting himself to promise much than that.

"I guess that's the best I could ask for," Adrianna said smiling faintly before leaving the frame of her portrait, where to Tom did not know. What he did know, however, was what he needed to do soon.

This could not continue. He would not let it.

It was strange watching Aidan react to the people he was surrounded with and understanding some of the reasoning behind it. Adrianna's words had given him some insight to Aidan's mind whether she knew it or not, she probably did. Aidan, it seemed, never needed such a push to understand Tom and Tom could now realize how differently Aidan acted around him in different situations or while he was in different moods.

The rest of the day dragged by at an extremely slow pace. Tom was often tempted into talking to Aidan during the classes but stopped himself, in case his plan blew up in his face. He would prefer for that to be in private. It was extremely difficult though.

Finally the last lesson ended.

"Aidan," Tom called across the classroom while he made his way closer to the other teen.

"Yes Riddle?" Aidan replied calmly.

The Court tensed slightly, awaiting the expected unpleasant results of the interaction.

"Can we talk? In private?" Tom asked carefully, hoping not to be blown off again.

Aidan gave Tom a long, measured look. Finding what he was looking for, he answered with a curt, "Perhaps," before leaving the classroom.

The Court exchanged glances and chose not to follow when Tom began to follow Aidan. Aidan led Tom down one of the long forgotten passages within Hogwarts to a room that looked recently used, undoubtedly by Aidan himself.

"Speak Riddle," Aidan said as the door closed behind them. He was facing away from Tom and seemed to be looking out of the window on the other side of the room except that the image reflected on the glass told Tom that his eyes were closed.

"Aidan, I'm sorry," Tom began.

"Are you sure you know what you are apologizing for?" Aidan cut in, his voice was calm and held no traces of his thoughts or emotions at Tom's words.

"I know now," Tom said, watching Aidan's expression carefully. Aidan made no move to reply so he continued.

"I should not have constantly argued and fought with Longbottom over you. It was wrong and stupid. You should be able to choose for yourself and not be forced into the situations you were by us. I promise not to do that again," Tom said the last sentence with a flash of newly found bravery and immediately tensed, hoping he hadn't gone too far.

"You do realize how big that promise really is, don't you Riddle?" Aidan finally opened his eyes and turned to stare into Tom's eyes.

It was kinda freaky how little emotion Aidan was showing. Usually he wore his heart on his sleeve and they sometimes wondered how he had managed to get sorted into Slytherin and then there were other times like this that he was downright _scary_.

Tom nodded slowly, gulping as he could practically feel Aidan assessing him, his words, his entire being, trying to find a lie.

"You talked with Adrianna," Aidan stated.

"How did you know?" Tom asked.

"If you didn't figure it out in the first week, you would have needed assistance. Adrianna is the only one that could give you enough information on me for you to make that apology," Aidan said.

"She only pointed me in the right direction," Tom tried to explain but at Aidan's raised brow he elaborated with a sigh. "Okay, she did have to explain some parts to me and she somehow managed question how I got sorted into Slytherin while she was at it," he muttered.

Tom knew that he had said the right thing when amusement began to fill Aidan's eyes.

**Thank you for the favourites, follows and reviews!**

**Damn, so tempted to make the room explode or something after Tom apologized.**


	28. Chapter 27

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

**_Chapter 27_**

It was not long before the court realized that Aidan was disappearing every Saturday without fail. Their curiosity only ever grew as Aidan never mentioned anything about being away from the castle whenever he left or returned. It was extremely mysterious and puzzling. They were drawn to the mystery like moths to a flame and they knew that if they got too close, it would burn.

They tried multiple ways to find out where Aidan went or to get him to talk about it without being overly suspicious. They had tried to stay up until he came in but they always fell asleep; they tried to wake up before him but his bed was always empty by the time they had woken and even the odd occasion when his bed had not been empty when they woke they never managed to catch him as he left. Aidan never mentioned any of their odd behaviour if he noticed it, perhaps because it would bring up the topic of why _he_ was leaving every Saturday which seemed to be a topic he was avoiding. Every time they brought up Saturday he would change the subject before they noticed anything and they would only realize it after he had left.

Despite the fact that Tom and Aidan seemed to have made up and the Court was whole again, it seemed as if there was still a large rift that was caused by Tom's and Aidan's fight. It was not the same as it was before.

Tom noticed the slight hesitations in Aidan as they interacted now. For the most part Aidan reacted normally but on occasion when some topics came up he would hesitate to argue with Tom or seemed to hold back on saying something.

Tom despaired at this, wishing things could o back to the way they were before, when Aidan would be freer and said whatever came to his mind arguing a point he felt strongly on whenever they felt like. Now the silences came often and the arguments were few and far between. The silences were not comfortable silences either, they were awkward on Tom's side and he could never tell if Aidan felt the same.

Both these matters got to a point where Tom could not hold back any more as he blamed himself for all the changes as much as the Court repeatedly told him otherwise quite firmly. He decided to confront Aidan, or well he tried to confront Aidan.

"Aidan, what's wrong?" he asked as a conflicted expression was faintly visible on Aidan's face again.

"Nothing. Why?" Aidan's face had cleared of all expression and he seemed to stiffen slightly.

"I've apologized already. I don't know what I have done wrong this time but whatever it is, I'm sorry. You keep holding yourself back when you're talking with me and you know it!"Tom said firmly.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Aidan replied relaxing his muscles slightly but they still held tension within them.

"Then say what you are hesitating to say and explain why you are so tense," Tom demanded.

"I-I-I'm sorry. I can't" Aidan said, sounding as if he were trying to convince himself of the fact and not just Tom.

"I don't believe you," Tom said.

Aidan's eyes flashed in anger. "Too bad, you're just going to have to believe it," he hissed.

Tom backtracked for a moment, startled at Aidan's explosive reaction to a statement Tom had made on multiple occasions previous without such a reaction. He tried to think over his words and how it would have sounded to Aidan to cause his extreme reaction. He could not understand what it was that had angered Aidan so. It wasn't like the-

Then Tom understood what he had done wrong. He had been ignoring the fact that the fight had never happened and the changes it had caused in their relationship, in all of Aidan's relationships with the Court. He had wanted to ignore the truth, the reality of the situation, but he could not. Not when it was facing him now without backing down. Not when Aidan made him face it in harsh reality.

Tom turned to apologize to Aidan but he had already stalked off in a fury down the deserted corridor.

"What have you done this time?" Poppy asked, coming up beside Tom and watching Aidan's retreating back fade into the maze of Hogwarts' corridors with a thoughtful look.

Tom sighed.

"I have been trying to ignore the gaps left by the fight resolutely and the consequences have been shoved into my face over a very short space of time," Tom said, stealing a glance at Poppy from the corner of his eye. "I was unwilling to see the effects of the fight on anything but they were there and quite obvious but I did not want it so I ignored it."

Poppy only sighed in exasperation. "Was whatever intelligence within you, which caused Aidan to forgive you, temporary? Because by Merlin, you really do need it back or you are probably going to mess everything up with the way you are going," she stated frankly.

Tom sighed once more, this time the sigh was much heavier than the last one.

"I don't know what I am doing wrong or how to fix it. He is pushing everyone away and I want to know why," Tom turned to Poppy. "His past is nearly as mysterious as he is, especially since he was thought to be dead for so many years and suddenly seemingly pops out of nowhere."

"If there is anyone who will figure it out, it would be you Tom, " Poppy said comfortingly. "If not, you could always ask Sebastian."

Tom knew that she was teasing him with the last words but they did seem to ring true despite her tone and Tom did not want to have to ask for help from Sebastian for Aidan. Especially if he wanted to be in a relationship with Aidan, he could not always be asking other people for help all the time.

"I hope I can figure it out, Poppy," Tom said in reply.

A week and a half later, Tom had tried everything and only had one idea left to get Aidan to talk. He had hoped that it would not come down to this option but everything he had tried had failed spectacularly and there is nothing left that he could try.

"Aidan, I have had enough. Tell me what is wrong!" Tom demanded in parseltongue. It was an incredibly underhand trick but he was desperate, incredibly so.

"I-I'm scared," Aidan said. He looked only vaguely shocked with his reply but that expression was quickly overtaken by resignation and anger. "How could you do that to me? I trusted you!"

Aidan looked betrayed but Tom stubbornly pressed on, needing to know but trying his best to ignore Aidan's expression. It hurt him to do what he was doing but he continued anyway.

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid that if I get too close, I'll lose everything like I always do," Aidan said, eyes closed, shaking ever so slightly.

"You won't lose us, the Court, no matter what," Tom said in quick reassurance.

Aidan rounded on Tom with anger in his eyes. "You cannot promise that. No one can. Everybody leaves, no matter what they say in the beginning."

Aidan looked lost in his memories. He looked extremely sad and the small smile on his lips only managed to somehow make him look sadder. Seeing Aidan like this made Tom feel sad, Aidan was usually the one that was bubbly and happy. He should not be crying, ever.

"What can I do to help convince you that the Court and I are permanent now? They will not leave you and neither will I," Tom said gently.

Aidan shook his head. "You can do nothing. It's not your fault. It's mine, it always is. I can't seem to do anything right!" Aidan whispered more to himself then to Tom.

"It's not always your fault Aidan, it is not possible. I would say that it's never your fault but I doubt you would believe me if I said that. You blame yourself for so much, even things where the blame does not lie with you. You carry so much guilt but most if not all that guilt is not yours to carry, Aidan," Tom said reaching out to comfort Aidan. "If it's not your fault, don't make it your fault."

Aidan seemed to mull over Tom's words for a while.

"You don't have to think about it, you know I'm right," Tom teased.

"Perhaps, but I would not want that head of yours to get any larger lest you fall down the stairs on the way to Potions. We wouldn't want that now would we, imagine the embarrassment. _Slytherin Prince falls down the stairs on the way to Potions_, oh the shame," Aidan teased right back.

Seeing that Aidan was in a better mood, Tom decided to take his chance to sate his curiosity.

"Now could you tell me where you go on Saturdays?" Tom asked hopefully.

Aidan laughed. "It has been bugging you for a while hasn't it?"

Tom nodded his head quickly.

Aidan laughed again. "Nope, secret. Consider it payback."

"Aidan!"


	29. Chapter 28

**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter.**

**_Chapter 28_**

Tom was bored.

Aidan had disappeared mysteriously without a word to any one once again and the rest of the Court was split in various parts of the castle and grounds doing their own things.

He had finished the last book he had borrowed from the library mere minutes ago and did not feel like going to the library at that moment. The library would undoubtedly be filled with most of the Ravenclaw House student population and a couple of fifth years or seventh years that were either trying to finish their homework or had caught the OWL and NEWT fever. There would be many more of the latter category soon enough.

He sighed as he left the Slytherin Common Room. He was going to explore the castle today. There really wasn't anything else to do besides, there were many forgotten passages within Hogwarts which were said to be hidden by Hogwarts herself until the right person came along and passed that particular part of the castle.

He hoped he would find something interesting today and not walk around in circles as many of the other Slytherins had claimed happened while they walked around the dungeons. There were a few of the other house members that occasionally wandered the dungeons but the larger part of the student population preferred to be on the higher areas of the castle or in the warmer part of the dungeon where it was rumoured that both the Hufflepuff Common Room as well as the kitchens were hidden.

He followed the corridors. One led to the next and almost every corridor looked the same as the last and the one before it. This would have alarmed Tom had he not known that he would not get lost within the dungeons. He had his wand and knew sufficient spells to guide him back to the Slytherin Common Room.

At some point he ended up in a dead end. A single door stood at the end of the corridor. The door was slightly ajar.

Curiosity got the better of him, something he definitely blamed on Aidan. His curiosity had always been controllable before he had met the other boy but Tom preferred to know Aidan that not knowing him. He pushed the door open slowly, making sure there was nothing in the room that would attack him then he stepped into the room.

A single wardrobe was the only thing in the room at first glance. A sweep across the room confirmed it. The wardrobe shook wildly almost as if there was a person trapped inside it but he had not heard of a student getting lost within the dungeons for some time.

Tom drew his wand and carefully moved forward.

The wardrobe suddenly stilled then the door swung open with an ominous creak. Two very ruffled figures staggered out of the cupboard. They clung to each other tightly, the touch looked intimate. His heart nearly stopped when he recognized who it was.

Aidan and Sebastian.

Tom then sighed in resignation. He had promised Aidan and he was not going to break that promise no matter what. Even if it meant losing Aidan to Sebastian as long as Aidan was happy and they could at least remain as friends after all this was over. That would be good enough.

He sighed and was about to leave when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the figures of Aidan and Sebastian spin, distort and change. He turned back to face the newly formed figure.

This time his heart stopped and his mouth went absolutely dry at the horrible sight.

It was still Aidan but he was an unhealthy pale shade and had many cuts and bruises all over the visible parts of his body. His robes had numerous rips in them that were stained a deep crimson. He looked like he had been in a fight with a werewolf.

Tom knew in some part of his mind that this was not really Aidan. It could not be. It was probably a shapeshifter of some sort but that knowledge did not stop him from shooting out the meager amount of healing spells in his repertoire.

None of them had any effect whatsoever, not even the smallest cut healed. He had always thought healing spells were unnecessary to learn and here he was being proven wrong in the most painful way possible.

He could only watch Aidan bleed out slowly.

Aidan had finished early for once. Jeremy had only been able to spare the morning to train him before rushing off for a family emergency of some sort. Dumbledore had picked him up and told him that he had the rest of the day to himself. In Aidan's opinion Dumbledore had sounded slightly regretful but Aidan was relieved for the break nonetheless.

Not knowing where the rest of the Court was or what they were doing, he ended up wandering the passageways of Hogwarts most of which he recognized from either the future or more recent explorations. He almost wished he had forgotten to finish a piece of homework like he had a few times before. He noticed a door that was open down one of the passages he passed. Curiosity encouraged him to move closer and he did.

His eyebrows knitted in confusion as he took in the sight of Tom's crumpled form and a truly horrific imitation of his own body that lay on the floor bleeding heavily. He caught sight of the open cupboard on the other end of the room.

_Of course Tom would have found a boggart! _Aidan thought in amusement.

Tom's fear was apparently him dying. It was ironic really, once you consider the future.

Aidan sighed when Tom had yet to move even one inch after a few minutes. The other boy did not look like he could have done anything if he tried anyway. Aidan did not know if boggarts had even been found yet in this time.

"Riddikulus," Aidan said firmly banishing the boggart back into the cupboard before it changed into a dementor as if often did for him. He locked the cupboard too for a good measure.

"Aidan!" Tom exclaimed looking around surprised.

Aidan noticed Tom carefully looking him over for the cuts, bruises and blood the boggart Aidan had been covered with. Aidan did not think it would be a good time for him to mention if just yet.

Suddenly Aidan found himself with an armful of Tom. Aidan wasn't sure whether he should have been surprised or amused at the other boy's actions.

"Promise me that will never happen in reality," Tom all but begged.

"You should know better than most that I cannot promise that Tom. You know what a powerful danger magnet I am after all," Aidan said playfully.

"I suppose that I will have to be your knight in shining armour then," Tom said in return with a long suffering sigh.

"Perhaps you shall," Aidan replied with a smirk, "as long as I don't need to save you in the end."

The walk back to the Common Room was silent, Tom not needing his wand to find his way back. He simply followed Aidan who seemed to know where he was going which was surprising considering the fact that Aidan had not even been there for an entire year yet. That was simply another one of those mysterious things about Aidan.

"What was that … thing back there?" Tom asked as they were approaching the disguised door to their Common Room.

"That was a boggart. It is a shapeshifter and takes the form of your greatest fear," Aidan said simply.

Tom was grateful that Aidan did not comment on what he had seen. Tom needed time to figure out the entire boggart scenario himself. The boggart _had_ changed, so had his fear also changed?

The Tom realized something. It was a Saturday and Aidan was here.

"What are you doing here?" Tom blurted out.

"Walking. I was sure you had notice that before," Aidan deadpanned.

Tom gave him a look that told him exactly how unamused he was with Aidan's answer.

"I mean what are you doing in the castle? You usually disappear on Saturdays and you don't reappear until the next day," Tom said.

"Yeah, I finished early today," Aidan stated not offering any more information on the subject.

Tom sighed.

Aidan would tell him when he was ready.

Hopefully.


	30. Chapter 29

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

**_Chapter 29_**

Tom had decided that his repertoire of spells required a more extensive knowledge of healing spells and charms and had enlisted the help of Poppy for his studies. Poppy had been delighted to find someone else that was interested in healing and saw the use for it. She had immediately brought him a large pile of books which she considered were "beginner" healing books. Well it was, to Poppy and other healers, not to the average population with barely any experience in healing.

So the next time Aidan left, Poppy had been testing Tom on the basic spells she had taught him during the week. He was having a harder time learning the healing spells as he was more used to offensive spells that harmed.

It took some time but Poppy was a patient teacher and Tom was willing to persevere in his learning, pushed forward by the image of Aidan that the boggart had shown him. Despite it being an image of his worst fear, he did not want to face that possibility in real life and be unable to do anything about it.

Aidan had noticed all this and had shaken his head in amusement. If Tom really was serious about making sure he never got hurt, he would have a harder job than he had expected. Jumping from being targeted by one Dark Lord to the next was not particularly healthy if you did not want to get hurt. Tom did not know that of course. Aidan often wondered if he had a big sign above his head: "Opposition to any Dark Lord. Target if you need an enemy! Always available!"

Aidan had left Tom with his training again that Saturday feeling more amused than anything. It was obvious Tom's magic was not particularly compatible with healing spells but the other boy was trying anyway.

Aidan's training with Jeremy was going better than ever. He was able to defeat Jeremy more and more often, using his slighter build and agility to his advantage. Jeremy was taller and had more power in his strikes but that could be used against him if Aidan managed to time his attacks correctly but he did not have enough stamina built up to manage to think, block and attack at pretty much the same time. He needed more experience before he could reach the level Jeremy was at.

He would not be given the opportunity to gain that much experience though. The war was almost upon them and Grindelward would be making his move soon. There had been news of him taking over the German Ministry of Magic and was slowly expanding but moving towards the Isles with a fury. There had even been rumours that his spies had already been placed in various positions in every Ministry within Europe.

Dumbledore had left him at Jeremy's home once again and had taken Aidan's wand with him, something Aidan still was not particularly comfortable with yet.

Jeremy had spoken normally with Dumbledore but he had seemed _off_ almost as if he were hiding something from Dumbledore. He seemed hesitant and unsure, something that was incredibly strange considering Jeremy's usually personality and outlook on life – he had managed to lecture Aidan on many different subjects during his lessons. He had considered them life lessons that it was essential Aidan needed to know.

One of them being that unless both parties were equally matched, there was no true winner in a conflict as one was at a disadvantage. If the one with a disadvantage managed to win, however, he was the winner.

That had sent Aidan thinking back to all his interactions with Voldemort – he refused to think of the Tom he knew now as the Voldemort he knew from the future – and how utterly unprepared he had been yet had manage to escape every single time, did that mean he had won? Could that be considered as "defeated"?

Aidan did not think he could return to his time and fight Voldemort after all this.

When Dumbledore had left Jeremy turned to Aidan with a determined glint in his eyes.

"Let's put everything you've learned to the ultimate test," Jeremy said calmly as if he were giving Aidan another speech about morals or life lessons.

Aidan's eyes widened. He was not ready for any type of test.

"Here are the rules. If you win, you have passed you're training and will be free to go. You will never see me again," Jeremy said.

Aidan gulped. He certainly did not like where this was going.

"And if you win?"

"You do remember the family emergency I had last week? It would seem my cousin wishes to have you alive to find out how you managed to survive his attack on your family. I can only assume he is going to add a little bit of torture in there somewhere," Jeremy stated calmly, as if he were talking of the weather and not of his student's possible torture.

Aidan thought for a second before everything clicked.

"Grindelward's your cousin?" Aidan asked shocked, "but then how does Dumbledore know you?"

"Dumbledore was friends with Grindelward many years ago. I met them when Bathilda Bagshot had invited me over for a week during the holidays," Jeremy said freely. "Enough talk."

Jeremy attacked and Aidan was barely able to block what looked like a rather painful hit had it landed anywhere as it was he shook from even blocking the blow. Jeremy was using a lot more power than he had ever used in their practices and Aidan did not know how many times he would be able to block those hits. His only choice was to dodge and counterstrike as soon and as effectively as possible.

As Aidan had expected, he was tiring quickly and his movements were becoming sloppy. He was getting desperate and resorting to using more and more dirty tricks in an attempt to stop losing ground and allow himself some time to recuperate.

Aidan's magic was working on healing the bruises he had received and not maintaining his stamina and speed, something he needed more so he did not end up looking like one very large bruise when they were done, if he won that is.

He would look a lot worse than a bruise if he lost and at this rate the chances of him actually winning and knocking his teacher out were so slim it would be easier for Aidan to simply give up and stop taking unnecessary punishment.

He had been sorted into Gryffindor as Harry Potter though and Gryffindors were hardheaded and never gave up. Hell, _he_ had never given up before and he was not about to start now. If he was going down, he was going down with a fight.

His desperation was causing his magic to start acting up and as strong as his magic usually was, Aidan was exhausted so there was not much his magic could do. He was weakening, that much was evident as the shields he unconsciously conjured with his magic broke like glass under Jeremy's onslaught.

Aidan's body was protesting with each movement and perspiration was pouring down his face and back. It had been over an hour since they had started and Aidan was almost positive his body was simply going to collapse from exhaustion any time soon but he pushed forward.

He had never been capture by a Dark Lord before and he was not starting now as that would not bode well for his future.

Jeremy himself was looking more tired than Aidan had ever seen him before but he still had more energy and Aidan knew that his body was nowhere as exhausted as he was.

Aidan somehow managed to glare at Jeremy as he panted, lungs burning fiercely along with every single one of his muscles.

"Dumbledore trusted you!" Aidan managed to pant out.

"Blood is thicker than friendship," Jeremy shrugged carelessly, "besides you had your chance. You put up a better fight than I had expected."

Aidan growled in anger.

"Not good enough obviously."

The last thing he saw was a slightly regretful expression pass over his ex-teacher's face before everything faded to black.

Dear Merlin, Tom was going to murder him for this.


	31. Chapter 30

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue.**

**_Chapter 30_**

When Dumbledore arrived at Jeremy's house at the agreed upon time to pick Aidan, he was suitably surprised at the empty house. Jeremy had not mentioned anything about taking Aidan anywhere for training of some sort or another. He would have thought it would be too soon for that.

He entered the training area and was met with the gruesome remains of Jeremy. He had placed the wards around Jeremy's home himself. No one could enter unless Jeremy had given them permission to enter and he had dropped the wards through the controls he had created for the other man since he did not have magic to connect directly to the wards.

Dumbledore sighed. "You knew his nature as well as I did, I believed you knew better than to trust him," he murmured softly.

He was disappointed in his old friend. He had succumbed to Grindelward's pressure.

He was more disappointed in himself though. He should have seen this coming, expected this somehow. He should have given Aidan some sort of protection and not left him without some sort of way to fight back magically or any way that would be to his advantage for a situation like this one.

How could he not have realized what "family emergency" had been though? There were only a few remaining members of the Grindelward family, old Bathilda being one of them.

Grindelward had his heir and he did not even want to think of the possible horrors Aidan would be subjected to. Arianna was going to give him an earful for messing up this badly. Not to mention he was probably going to get a message from Aberforth at the very least, a visit was a lot more probable.

Aidan's friends would have to be told too. They would be giving him an earful not to mention the fact that Tom Riddle would be out for revenge. Both he and Aidan seemed close and he would probably take it personally and blame him. It _was_ his fault though.

Dumbledore apparated back to Hogwarts, he would have to tell the headmaster, other staff and Aidan's friends.

The staff had been suitably horrified for one of their top students.

Aidan's friends were terrified for their friend. They asked for all the information they could get and had begun to try and think of possible plausible ways to rescue him. Dumbledore found himself shocked by the number of people they knew from both sides of the war, some of them even well known followers of Grindelward who seemed to only join him to protect their families and weren't truly loyal to his old friend.

Dumbledore had to admit though, that these students had more contacts than many adults within Hogwarts and were a lot more useful in thinking of ideas and plans than their professors had been.

"I thought you said you were training him to protect him," Tom Riddle said scathingly from his side. He had not noticed the boy move towards him.

"I did. I placed trust in the wrong person," Dumbledore said.

"How was he taken? Aidan would never go down without a fight and was magically powerful enough to beat anyone," Tom commented.

Dumbledore sighed. He had hoped no one would ask that question but he should have known better. Tom Riddle was one of the brightest students Hogwarts had ever seen. He would not miss such an obvious detail.

Dumbledore tried to explain the situation as delicately as he possibly could but he had obviously forgotten he was talking to a Slytherin.

"So you left him without his wand in a home of one of your old friends who was_ related _to_ Grindelward _and had a significant amount of experience over Aidan with no way of protecting himself should your _dear old friend_ decide to betray you for his _family_? Were you unaware of the dangers of such a thing especially during times of war?" Tom asked with a raised brow. He almost sounded condescending.

Dumbledore winced. It sounded a lot worse when he put it in that way but it was true nonetheless and Dumbledore nodded his head slowly. If Tom Riddle was this scary when angry at such a young age, he did not want to think about what he would be like when he got older and his magic stopped growing. Aidan was just about as scary when angry except Aidan tended to lash out more which was rather dangerous.

"That was a situation I had not counted on happening. I trusted him to know Grindelward's personality and know what would happen after he did so," Dumbledore sighed.

"A situation you had not counted on happening?" A new voice asked. "It should have been one you had to been prepared for if you knew he was related to Grindelward and had a _family emergency_ the week previously."

Dumbledore turned to look at the new person while Tom's eyes merely flickered upwards, before they returned to Dumbledore.

Sebastian had spoken and came to stand next to Tom. They had apparently come to an agreement to put aside their differences and get Aidan back first. Dumbledore marveled at how Aidan was able to bring two students who had been well known as rivals for the last couple of years together. That boy was a miracle worker.

Dumbledore sighed. "I should have. I only connected the dots after I arrived to find Aidan gone and my friend dead."

All the students present exchanged glances. They could not trust Dumbledore with Aidan's safety after this. If Aidan was ever to go somewhere Dumbledore asked him to go, at least one of them would go with him no matter what. Dumbledore's judgement of people was highly erroneous and they were not willing to risk Aidan again.

They left not long afterwards at an unspoken signal.

"Can you believe that man?"

"How thick could you get?"

"I felt like cursing that man into oblivion."

"Bloody fool! He's going senile!"

The Court snarled as they got out of earshot of Dumbledore's office. They were furious.

Tom could barely believe it. Had he not just told Aidan not to ever get into situations like that? That had been what? A week ago? How did that boy manage to attract so much of trouble in so little time? They had all been in Hogwarts for years and had not been targeted by the Dark Lord. Aidan comes and within months he is already targeted by a Dark Lord that had not even been in Britain yet and not for the first encounter with the Dark Lord either. That boy was most definitely a danger magnet and they both knew it.

The first student they passed in the corridor looked terrified at the sight of them. They were loud and the amount of students passing them decreased rapidly. News of the pissed off Court apparently had spread through the castle quickly and despite it being the free time they had before dinner.

Sebastian broke off from the group when they reached the closest route to the Gryffindor Tower. They would meet again tomorrow and discuss further. They would get Aidan back even if that meant that they would have to sneak out of Hogwarts and into Grindelward's lair on their own.

The former would be easier but the latter would be more difficult especially since they would have to get Aidan and _get out_. Aidan was more likely to be unconscious considering who he was living with. Abraxas, Theo and Xeno had a few relatives that were within Grindelward's forces.

They would not let Aidan stay in Grindelward's possession any longer than absolutely necessary.

They refused to believe in the possibility of Aidan being dead. It was not even a possibility in their minds.

They knew his personality. He would not be dead considering how much he had already been through. Despite his more fragile looks, he was tougher than most people and would never give up. He was almost Gryffindor in that manner but that was _Aidan_ and not something anyone wanted to change about him.

Aidan would survive because he was tough and had a strong mental strength. He would not break.

If he was not going to break they will not give up until they got him back.

Why did everything have to happen to Aidan though?


	32. Chapter 31

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue**

**_Chapter 31_**

It had been some time since Aidan had been brought to the dungeon he was now lying in. His hands were chained as they sometimes where before and after Grindelward or his followers came to "visit" him. His feet were chained to the wall as was standard. When only his feet were chained, he could usually move around a little bit and stop his muscles from all withering away from lack of use.

There was barely any light in the dungeons, the only light was provided by the flickering torches that lined the dungeon walls outside the cells. He had no clue how long he had been here and he sincerely doubted the measly amount of food they provided him with came as regularly as he would have liked it to.

Somehow he figured that Grindelward wanted to keep him alive, well at least for now and Aidan was not about to complain about the extended time. The Dark Lord could have killed him upon arrival while he had still been unconscious and gotten it over with.

Aidan could barely believe that it had been _Jeremy_ that had handed him over to Grindelward especially after all his life lessons and everything he had taught him.

He thought Jeremy was Dumbledore's friend, though if it was true that Jeremy had been related to Grindelward it was not as much a surprise as it would have been.

Had he been telling the truth about Dumbledore and Grindelward being friends though? Was it possible? Of course it was possible but the likelihood of it happening considering that they now led the opposing sides in the war.

That would explain why Grindelward wanted to capture him and was keeping him alive. It would get back at Dumbledore and taunt the other man that his enemy had his heir and Dumbledore would not know what Grindelward was doing to him. That would probably torture the other man if Aidan had learned anything about him during all those years he knew him for.

He was not the only person getting tortured by Grindelward though. Aidan was more directly being tortured by the Dark Lord.

Aidan was surprised and thankful for the fact that the Unforgivable Curses had yet to be invented or they had been invented and Grindelward was unaware of it yet. Aidan doubted how long he would be able to stay under the Cruciatus without going insane. This slower torture was both not as painful but took longer so as long as Aidan could act to some extent he was fine. Some of the methods _had_ been painful and that had caught Aidan off guard for a second. They always healed the more grievous wounds after the torture session was over. Aidan had no idea why they actually tortured him, the only reason he could think of was that they really enjoyed torturing people because they had yet to ask him for any information or whatever they tended to torture captured people from the other side for.

Aidan often wondered what these followers of Grindelward did when there were no prisoners for them to beat up. They were about the same level as Dudley and his gang something Aidan had almost built up a tolerance to with the exception of the broken bones that had occurred every once in a while.

Grindelward only came into "his" cell in the dungeons once in a while. He was the only one that actually used magic on him during his entire stay with the exception of the healing spells on occasion. His spells were admittedly more painful but that was to be expected all things considered. His magic was weaker that Voldemorts would be so that comforted him in the off chance that the Cruciatus curse would be created during his stay in Grindelward's dungeons.

Aidan had often found his thoughts turning to Tom and the Court whenever he wanted to distract himself. He wondered what they were doing and tried to imagine what their reactions would be when Dumbledore told them. They would be beyond angry but that would probably mean he would have shadows or have at least one of them by him every single second of every day. That would get annoying.

Aidan was glad that they had not taken the crystal that stopped his nightmares so he could sleep unbothered and gain some energy from that.

He had noticed that there were two men that always flanked Grindelward whenever he entered the dungeon. Aidan doubted Grindelward would need bodyguards so he probably trusted the other men for them to be so close to him. It was vaguely surprising to Aidan but he supposed it would be a good idea to allow other people to have the knowledge he did so they could run the entire operation should he be needed elsewhere.

Aidan wondered what happened that had caused Grindelward's side of the war to fall as he did. If those two people had all that knowledge, surely they would have been able to run Grindelward's army as Grindelward had before he was defeated by Dumbledore. Something must have happened to cause that change. Something significant must have happened to cause that change.

Aidan would have to wait to find out what happened there but for now he could try and figure out a way to get out of this dungeon. It would be rather difficult considering he had been unconscious when he had been brought in and had no idea of the size, location or even where exactly he was in this place. He did not even know if he was still in Britain or not anyway.

That did not mean that he would not try though. When had such bad odds stopped him before?

Aidan would use his knowledge on pureblood homes to make assumptions and pray to Merlin that he was correct in making them. He would assume that this was one of the pureblood's manors because only those manors had dungeons and even then only the older pureblood manors had dungeons. The newer ones tended to forgo them. The state of the cell he was currently in lent possibility to the latter instead of the former. He could then assume that there were wards surrounding the property and that there were grounds surrounding the manor as well as it would be strange for a pureblood manor, especially one owned by one of the older bloodlines, not to want to show off their wealth and decorate their manor to suit their bloodline. That would also mean that the wards would be stronger than those of the newer bloodlines as they tended to have things to hide.

The only glaring problem would be navigating the manor without getting lost or running into any of Grindelward's men on the way out especially after the alarm would be raised and he knew it would be once they realize he was not in the dungeons any more.

He knew his insane luck would only hold out for so long and did not really want to push it in case he got captured again. He would not get a second chance at escaping, he knew that.

The entire issue was far too stressful for Aidan's liking. He would make sure not to be captured by any Dark Lord again.

With that thought he fell into an exhausted sleep, thankful for that in itself.


	33. Chapter 32

**_Disclaimer: _****Same as prologue**

**_Chapter 32_**

He could not stand seeing the newest prisoner every time Grindelward went into the cell to torture the boy.

Every time he saw those pained green eyes he almost flinched. He only barely managed to cover his reactions with his occlumency shields.

He always imagined his son in the boy's place, they shared exactly the same shade of green eyes. He had no idea who this boy had inherited his eyes from but his son had inherited it from his mother.

They had been heartbroken when they found out that their son was a squib. They had given him over to the other, muggle half, of their bloodline for his own safety. They had told Grindelward that Evangeline had a miscarriage and lost the child. They had been grief-stricken enough for the Dark Lord to believe it.

Watching this boy getting tortured was just as painful as watching his own son being tortured before his very eyes. He knew the Dark Lord was beginning to become impatient with Dumbledore's lack of reaction and would probably end up killing the boy soon.

He did not know if he would be able to stand that without reacting. If he tried to save the boy, he would be killed though without a second thought on the Dark Lord's part. If he wanted to save the boy, he would have to wait and time it perfectly. He knew that he would be asked to clear out the body of the boy if the Dark Lord did indeed end up killing him and that would be his opportunity to save the boy.

The Dark Lord would figure it out after some time and kill him but hopefully that would be enough time for him to explain everything to his wife. She would accept it. She would understand because he would have done similar things for their child.

The boy had been there for just over a month now and it seemed like the Dark Lord's patience had reached its end with Dumbledore's opportunity to save the boy. It seemed like he was going to kill him today.

Daniel swallowed thickly at the thought.

Today would be his final betrayal to the Dark Lord and perhaps even the last day for him to live but if he gave his life for another, it was a worthy swap. He had finally done something that was right in his life and hopefully made up for the horrors that he had been forced to partake in under the Dark Lord's rule. He only hoped the Dark Lord did not kill his wife for his betrayal.

The Dark Lord was taking his time today and was _kindly_ explaining everything to the boy while he cast various painful curses on him. He admired the boy when he did not look scared at the possibility of death. He looked like he had accepted the possibility and resigned to his fate. It was not an expression he would have expected to see on one so young. He was not yet considered to be an adult in the Wizarding Worlds yet but was already ready to die.

That only made Daniel's will to save the boy stronger. Maybe they finally had someone who would defeat the Dark Lord since Dumbledore seemed to be unwilling to engage in a duel with the Dark Lord. Maybe they could finally have the peace they had all wanted for some time now.

As expected the Dark Lord motioned him to take care of the boy. He would open the wards enough for him to apparate out and in one time but that was enough.

The boy was unconscious from the many wounds and Daniel knew that if he did not receive medical attention soon he would die. That was how Grindelward always left the prisoners he "killed." He used that against the other side when he told them that he had not killed the prisoner but they had not reached the person in time and that was what caused them to die. The guilt they fought with afterwards made them weak and easy to defeat as they began to blame themselves for not looking hard enough and not being able to save their friend or family member.

That was one of Grindelward's most effective battle tactics. Of course, it was never really their fault. The half dead body would be left in some obscure place that no one would have been able to reach or even think about looking. They would never have found the body anyway.

With a silent apology to his wife, he took the body and apparated to Hogsmead as that was the closest one could apparate to Hogwarts. The boy was bleeding heavily and it was soaking his red robes into a darker more maroon colour which helped him pass through Hogsmead unattacked.

He quickly sent a spell to Dumbledore that alerted him that someone wanted to see him near the gates of Hogwarts. Daniel only hoped the man would come quickly or everything he had just done would be for naught and the boy would die anyway, something he was trying to avoid by all means possible. He had somehow managed to maneuver his wand so that he could cast a few healing spells on the boy as he ran. It was not much but it would help.

As he neared the gates he noted with relief that Dumbledore was standing there looking confused until he caught sight of him. He could see Dumbledore gasp and hurriedly unlock the gates for him to pass through but Daniel stopped just outside the gate and handed the unconscious boy over to Dumbledore who was looking more and more alarmed.

"I have to go," Daniel said as he turned to leave.

"He will kill you," Dumbledore called out.

"I know but it was a decision I had to make. He reminded me of the son I had to send away because he had been born as a squib. They have the same eyes," Daniel said as he turned around again briefly to get one last look at the boy.

"Who are you?"

"Daniel Evans," the man replied before apparating out.

"Thank you," Dumbledore said to empty air.

He all but ran back to the castle, wishing for once that they could apparate straight into the castle as dangerous as that would be on occasion. He heard the gate slam shut and lock itself as he passed through it again.

Once he reached the castle all the students moved out of his path as he navigated through the castle. He soon had a tail that was twelve very worried students long that he did not even bother noticing as he was so intent on arriving in the Hospital Wing as fast as possible.

The students behind him swapped startled glances as they noticed every single staircase was exactly right for them to pass through the castle using the shortest route to the Hospital Wing. It was almost as if Hogwarts herself was trying to aid them as much as she possibly could.

They wondered how Aidan had managed to gain Hogwarts' favour so quickly but it _was _Aidan. He managed the strangest feats in the shortest amounts of time to the point where it was almost startling.

They finally burst into the Hospital Wing after a few very tense and rushed moments. Dumbledore lay Aidan very carefully on the nearest bed while the Healer came bustling about brandishing her wand. Poppy quickly stepped closer to her so she could help as much as she could to make sure the process went as smoothly as possible.

Tom rounded on Dumbledore, "How did you manage to find him?"

"I did not find him. It would seem that Aidan's astounding luck had once again been at play as one of Grindelward's men had a son that he was reminded of every time he saw young Aidan," Dumbledore replied.

"And the man simply betrayed Grindelward for Aidan just like that?" Abraxas noted unconvinced.

"I suspected there were some problems he found with Grindelward's ideals and the like," Dumbledore said.

"He would have to be one of Grindelward's higher ups if he was able to have access to Aidan as many times and even be able to take him away from their base," Minerva pointed out. "Higher ups tend to be more convinced of what they are fighting for and do not usually betray that easily."

"Ah, but you forget the power of the bond between a parent and a child. It is one of the most powerful, more powerful than even the Unbreakable Vow," Dumbledore said knowingly.

Tom gave Dumbledore an inscrutable look before turning back to watching the Healer and Poppy work on healing Aidan.

The image was similar to the one the boggart had shown him just before Aidan had banished it back into the cupboard but this time there was no Aidan to banish the horror back. That was Aidan lying on the hospital bed.

And he _would_ survive or so help him Grindelward would find himself facing a very angry basilisk at the very _least_.


	34. Chapter 33

**_Disclaimer:_**** Same as prologue.**

**_Chapter 33_**

It had taken an entire night to heal all of Aidan's injuries but Aidan did not wake the next day or even the day after that. Dumbledore had left Aidan's wand on his bedside just before he left after Aidan had arrived then had come in to check on him every day after that.

Tom was there during every bit of his free time, even missing his prefect duty on occasion just to spend more time with Aidan.

None of the professors called him on it. They all knew that he was worried about Aidan, they were too but with the exams approaching quickly they had other things to worry about as well so they did not dwell on those thoughts for too long.

Sebastian also visited as often as he could but he had already realized that Aidan was probably going to choose Tom over him and let Tom have his time with Aidan, often covering prefect rounds for the other boy. That was something that shocked many of the teachers as the two were well known for fighting especially over the past months when it had come to Aidan.

The Healer told them that Aidan had gone into a magical coma to heal and deal with all the stress he had been through under Grindelward's "care." Poppy elaborated.

She told them very matter of factly that a magical coma is caused by either intense stress to the body or mind; or the overuse of magic to the point where there was an extremely small amount of magic in the person's system that can only sustain the body and nothing else.

She did mention that it should only last a couple of days before the coma turned into a sleep and the person woke but it had already been over a week and Aidan had yet to move into the "sleep" phase.

The Healer told them to talk to Aidan as there was a possibility of him hearing them and breaking out of the coma sooner than he would otherwise.

So Tom talked to Aidan about every day happenings, shouted at him for allowing himself to get captured and scolded him for making him worry about the other boy so much. Sometimes Tom thought he saw Aidan's eyes flickering as if he was going to wake or even felt Aidan's magic brush over him a couple of times. He did not know if it was a trick of his mind or not.

He did know that he could feel Aidan's magic thrumming just beneath his skin, almost awake whenever he reached out for the other boy with his own magic. He knew that Aidan would wake soon he simply did not know when or how much longer he had to wait. The feel of Aidan's magic was enough to lighten his mood every time he felt it. It gave him hope that Aidan would wake soon especially as Aidan's magic grew stronger every time he reacted with it.

The amount of power Aidan held was quite startling considering he almost never used most of his power despite having it. Tom had known that Aidan was powerful but never to this extent. His power was almost matching Tom's and Aidan had yet to wake. Tom noted this at the back of his mind while he stayed at Aidan's side and talked inanely.

Aidan woke the day before the exams were due to begin. Tom had noted once again his eyelids flickering but had known that it had not been his imagination when Aidan's hand twitched in his own as well.

Tom called out to the Healer excitedly who told him that Aidan should wake sometime within the next day.

Aidan's eyes opened not long after his magic was contained deep within his skin once more and Tom could no longer feel Aidan's magic.

Tom did not know whether to be overjoyed at Aidan finally waking or amused at Aidan's probable panic at the exams beginning the next day, well Aidan's first exam was the day after so he did not have to panic that much.

Aidan looked disorientated at first before he groaned out and muttered, "I'm never going to get myself captured again."

"I'm glad that we're both in agreement then," Tom drawled from his position at Aidan's side.

"I've seen this room far too many times," Aidan moaned in reply.

"Indeed you have, I would be incredibly pleased if you refrained from visiting this room again as a patient," Tom countered with a raised eyebrow.

"As would I, Tom," Aidan replied as he blinked away the tiredness from his eyes.

"Really now? I never would have guessed," Tom said sarcastically.

"Well aren't you just a lovely ray of sunshine this …." Aidan paused, "err… is it morning or afternoon?"

"Afternoon," Tom supplied.

"Ah, yes, this afternoon," Aidan finished with a smile.

"As wonderful as it is to hear you up and bantering already but I need to check if there is anything I missed while I was healing you," the Healer butted in before Tom could reply.

Tom was not looking amused so Aidan was thankful for the break in the bantering that the Healer had helpfully provided. Aidan knew that if there was anything the Healer had missed, it would have been healed during his sleep. Well, it had been a sleep hadn't it?

"Well it looks like you have a clean bill of health, which is admittedly a bit surprising considering that you had been unconscious for just under a month," the Healer said. "You should be able to leave just before dinner."

"Thank you Madam," Aidan said politely before her words truly registered in his mind. "A month?!"

Tom smirked when Aidan faced him slack jawed for a confirmation and explanation.

"Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?" was all Tom asked.

Aidan did not answer so he went ahead anyway.

"For the good news, you passed your dueling practical with flying colours or so Sebastian told me. For the bad news, the exam period begins tomorrow," Tom said a little sadistically as he noted the shock on Aidan's expression.

Aidan did not react as explosively as he had expected, unfortunately. Aidan closed his eyes then opened them slowly.

"Why could I not be unconscious for another month?" he moaned.

"Do you know how much I've been worried about you being unconscious for so long already? I don't know what I would have done if you had been unconscious for another month," Tom said harshly as the Healer left.

Aidan blinked. "Well, you knew that I would be fine," he countered. "So you did not have to _worry_. Grindelward was not really as bad as I had expected a Dark Lord to be. I've faced worse," Aidan said dismissively.

"Not as bad as you expected? Not as bad as you-Aidan are you _insane?_" Tom hissed. "You were out for about a month and-"

"You really should not worry so much. At the rate I'm currently going, the odds of me actually _dying_ are incredibly slim especially after taking everything that happened while I was unconscious into account," Aidan said dismissively.

Tom felt like banging his head against the nearest solid surface repeatedly. He was only stopped himself as it would be unseemly for him to do so.

Honestly he had no idea why he even bothered arguing with Aidan anymore. The boy was just about as thick-headed as any Gryffindor he had ever had the misfortune of meeting and arguing with.

"I did hear you though, when I was unconscious I mean," Aidan said, breaking through Tom's thoughts.

Tom groaned. He did not even know what he had been saying for the last few weeks. He had simply wanted to take up the space with chatter as was usually Aidan's job.

"Do you still write in a diary?" Aidan asked curiously.

Tom felt his eye beginning to twitch. He really should have taken note of what he had been saying on the odd chance that what the Healer had said was true as it was now proven.

Tom sighed.


End file.
